Category Archives: Uncategorized

International visitors take advantage of lower Aussie dollar

Posted on March 3, 2016 by Gene Tunny

Expenditure by international visitors to Queensland increased to over $4.9 billion in 2015 from $4.2 billion in 2014, a 19% increase, according to new International Visitor Survey data released by Tourism Research Australia (see chart below). This was less than … Continue reading →

Posted in Macroeconomy, Tourism, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Qld economy supported by State & local Gov’t CAPEX in December quarter

Posted on March 2, 2016 by Gene Tunny

The latest National Accounts released by the ABS were better than expected, with the national economy growing at 0.6% in December quarter 2015 and 3% through-the-year. Regarding Queensland, state final demand barely moved with a 0.1% increase, but that does … Continue reading →

Posted in Macroeconomy, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

Beattie right to recommend asset leases, but his advice has come too late

Posted on March 1, 2016 by Gene Tunny

Former Queensland Premier Peter Beattie is right to recommend the leasing out of State-owned assets, as reported in the Australian today (see Beattie sees the light on leases, which is behind the paywall). But unfortunately he is over a year … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 3 Comments

Qld economy patchy – SEQ appears fine, but much of rest of Qld struggling

Posted on February 27, 2016 by Gene Tunny

I had a nice chat with Ben Davis on his 4BC Live program yesterday afternoon about the state of Queensland’s economy, a discussion which was inspired by the flurry of press releases that came from the State Government in the … Continue reading →

Posted in Labour market, Macroeconomy, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 10 Comments

Is banning plastic bags the best option to tackle litter and reduce waste?

Posted on February 26, 2016 by Gene Tunny

Guest post by Rod Bogaards It looks like a push is on to ban single-use plastic bags nationally according to the Courier-Mail. A ban has already been implemented in some of the smaller states and territories but not elsewhere. Perhaps … Continue reading →

Posted in Environment, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , | 8 Comments

Low wages growth adds to concerns over strength of economy

Posted on February 25, 2016 by Gene Tunny

The ABS was right to identify the extraordinary nature of the December quarter wages data in the title of its media release, “2015 ends with lowest wage growth on record.” This applies at both the national level and in Queensland … Continue reading →

Posted in Infrastructure, Labour market, Uncategorized | 2 Comments

Upcoming FACCI seminar on planning and operating Qld’s infrastructure

Posted on February 23, 2016 by Gene Tunny

The French-Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FACCI) is holding a very interesting breakfast event in Brisbane on Thursday 17 March on the topic of planning and operating Queensland’s infrastructure. The seminar will feature David Quinn, Building Queensland CEO, and … Continue reading →

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On-street parking charges a better solution than Harding plan

Posted on February 22, 2016 by Gene Tunny

One important lesson from economics is that problems are most efficiently solved by setting prices right rather than by regulations mandating particular actions. So it is with the problem identified by Brisbane residents of being parked out of suburban streets … Continue reading →

Posted in Brisbane, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , | 8 Comments

Upcoming CPA Australia NFP conference

Posted on February 19, 2016 by Gene Tunny

The discouraging January labour force data released by the ABS yesterday make the economic outlook even more interesting, and Adam Creighton from The Australian is certainly correct that the weak labour market, which saw an increase in the national unemployment … Continue reading →

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Unemployment data confirm Qld economy still in soft patch

Posted on February 18, 2016 by Gene Tunny

Regular readers will know that I have been a bit skeptical about the State Government’s overly optimistic statements regarding the Queensland economy (e.g. see yesterday’s post). The economy has certainly been resilient at the end of the mining boom, but … Continue reading →

Posted in Labour market, Macroeconomy, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , | 5 Comments