Category Archives: Townsville

Remarkable turnarounds for Townsville, Mackay, and Cairns

In my upcoming Brisbane Club presentation on Tuesday, one chart I’ll show is of selected Queensland regional unemployment rates, highlighting how the economic recovery generally and a booming mining sector have translated into some extraordinarily low unemployment rates in some … Continue reading

Posted in Cairns, Labour market, Mackay, Townsville | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

QCA warned against bidding wars (e.g. on Origin games) back in 2015

As a Townsvillian by birth, I am happy that Townsville will host the first 2021 State of Origin game, but I’m also appalled that Queensland taxpayers have to pay (reportedly) up to $8 million to the NRL so Townsville can … Continue reading

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ACCC right to call for Qld Gov’t to cut stamp duty on home insurance – $200 in stamp duty on each NQ home insurance policy on average

The ACCC’s Final Report on its Northern Australia Insurance Inquiry has been released at last and, among other things, it rightly reiterates a recommendation made in previous reports to (on p. xxiii): Abolish stamp duty on home, contents and strata … Continue reading

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Qld’s regional economies & COVID-19 – video chat with Pete Faulkner

Earlier today I chatted with Pete Faulkner from Far-North-Queensland-based Conus Business Consultancy Services regarding how Queensland’s regional economies have been impacted by COVID-19. Check out the recording of our Zoom conversation below. You can download the slides we chatted about … Continue reading

Posted in Brisbane, Cairns, Labour market, Mackay, Macroeconomy, Migration, Mining, North Queensland, Population, Tourism, Townsville, Uncategorized, Wide Bay-Burnett | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

State and regional unemployment rates in this time of COVID-19 with Pete Faulkner

Mission Beach-based economist Pete Faulkner from Conus Consulting has been in the news recently with his estimates of the massive adverse impacts that measures to combat coronavirus are having on Queensland’s regional economies (e.g. see the InQueensland report Jobless numbers … Continue reading

Posted in Cairns, Gold Coast, Labour market, Macroeconomy, North Queensland, Townsville, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Outer-lying suburbs like Townsville’s Deeragun the most fertile

I am very pleased to be mentioned on the front page of today’s Townsville Bulletin in Tess Ikonomou’s article Townsville suburb Deeragun crowned NQ’s most fertile (pay-walled, sorry). As I told the Bulletin, in many cities, population pressures, and the … Continue reading

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New Townsville – guest post by Colin Dwyer

I am delighted to publish this guest post by Colin Dwyer of DS Economics on the Townsville economy’s improving prospects. The views expressed are Colin’s and should not necessarily be attributed to me. GT New Townsville In this essay Founder … Continue reading

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Townsville ESA seminar on regional economies incl. new NQ state discussion

I visited my hometown of Townsville last week to participate in an Economic Society of Australia (Qld) seminar on regional economies in a digitised and globalised world. The seminar feature presentations by James Cook University Associate Professor Riccardo Welters (Regional … Continue reading

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Upcoming Townsville seminar on regional economies in a digitised & globalised world

The Economic Society of Australia (Qld), of which I’m a Vice President, is hosting an upcoming seminar in Townsville on how regional economies can adapt and thrive in a digitised, globalised world (see flyer below). Local ESA member Matthew Cook … Continue reading

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Daylight saving in Qld would be welcomed by hospitality sector

Tomorrow, daylight saving commences in southern states, and Queensland businesses will again experience the inconvenience of being out of sync with customers, clients, suppliers, and partners in southern states. In his latest QEAS blog post, my colleague Nick Behrens has … Continue reading

Posted in Retail trade, Tourism, Townsville | Tagged , , , , , , | 9 Comments