Category Archives: Uncategorized

The old State Library is a charming old building, but it’s occupying prime Brisbane CBD land and should be re-developed, preserving as much of the original building as possible, of course.  The National Trust of Queensland, however, has signalled “widespread … Continue reading →

The Business Council of Australia (BCA) is rightly skeptical about the Commonwealth Government’s banking reform package.  At best it’s a collection of token reforms that won’t do much harm.  At worst it will lead to unfairness and a lack of … Continue reading →

Anyone working in Brisbane CBD is likely to have witnessed the pathetic sight of a police officer leaping out from a hiding place to book some poor unsuspecting pleb for jaywalking across a quiet city street (the George St-Queen St mall … Continue reading →

One great piece of advice in Richard Carlson’s Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff is “if someone throws you the ball, you don’t have to catch it”.  Judging from today’s front page headline in the Australian newspaper (Treasury swamped by demands) it … Continue reading →

According to today’s ABS Housing Finance release, the number of new home loans grew at a decent rate in October: 3.6% in Qld and 1.9% across Australia (seasonally adjusted). Of course, this growth occurred prior to the Melbourne Cup day … Continue reading →

It was great to read in today’s Courier-Mail that the big retailers (Coles, Woolies, etc) are leading a push for deregulated trading hours in Queensland, which would bring us into line with most other States: Queensland trading hours to be … Continue reading →

While our State and Commonwealth Governments have been trying to encourage bio-tech and advanced manufacturing companies through R&D tax concessions and commercialisation grants, it’s possible they have overlooked more prosaic companies that can generate practical innovations, such as Mackay’s Shipping … Continue reading →

Residential building approvals have rebounded in NSW and Victoria, growing at 14.0% and 4.6% respectively in October, while building approvals in Queensland declined by 0.7%, according to today’s ABS building approvals data (see the seasonally adjusted data). Across Australia, building … Continue reading →

Wacol, on the western outskirts of Brisbane City, has not had a salubrious history.  Its name derives from a weighbridge which weighed coal at the railway station – “weigh coal” became Wacol.  Today it is best known for its prison, … Continue reading →

The latest Fitness First Magazine (Nov 2010, p. 127) reports that 60% of adults in Queensland are overweight or obese (i.e. with a Body Mass Index of 25 or over), based on new research conducted by Galaxy Research.  The full … Continue reading →