Queensland Economy Watch

The influence of David Beckham is ever encroaching on the bastions of manliness, and now it’s North Queensland tradies who are heading to the beauty salon for facials and full body waxes.  The Cairns Post reports on how this is reshaping Cairns’s economy and society (You beauty: Cairns tradies face up to secret men’s business):

Tradies, miners and bankers are going to beauty salons in increasing numbers to fight ageing, advance their careers or please their partners.

Male waxing, facials, massage treatments and even cosmetic procedures such as Botox are skyrocketing, driving a new business phenomenon in Cairns.

Lisa Price from the Jade Cosmetic Clinic said 30 per cent of her business’s clients were men.

It probably shouldn’t be a surprise that the tradies are joining the bankers (and other professionals) in hitting the beauty salons, as they are subject to the same competitive pressures in the dating game, and the skill shortages we have seen in the trades have significantly pushed up tradies’ earnings.

Queensland Treasurer Andrew Fraser is absolutely correct to dismiss the CommSec report claiming the Queensland economy is currently the worst performing in the country (well, equal last with NSW).  Mr Fraser observed (see Sunshine State economy ranks last):

“I don’t agree with the methodology that CommSec uses.  If you look at what the Australian Bureau of Statistics has said in the last couple of months, we are number one for generating jobs.  We remain the number one destination for people moving within Australia.”

The CommSec report graded States based on how they’ve performed lately compared with their average performance over the last decade.  As the Brisbane Times (Economic gloom in the Sunshine State) explains:

The survey ranks states and territories by their economic performance based on eight key indicators: economic growth, retail spending, equipment investment, unemployment, completed construction work, population growth, housing finance and new housing construction.  It compares quarterly results with each state and territory’s decade average, or what is considered to be “normal” levels of activity.

So Queensland gets penalised because our current performance looks ordinary compared with our stellar performance over the majority of the last decade.  Using this methodology to rank the States gives you a silly answer to a silly question.

If you’d like to vote in an election in which you have some (albeit slim) chance of influencing the final result, then get to a polling station on the Queen St Mall in the next few weeks and vote for whether you’d like a full ban on smoking in the mall, a partial ban or no ban:

Smoking ban for Queen St Mall

The public mood appears to be running against smokers, so a full ban is a possibility.  I voted for a full ban, but later had second thoughts, realising a full ban would be a bit draconian.  Also, the economist in me started thinking that if we can create designated smoking areas (as per the partial ban) then we can make the smokers better off (compared with a full ban, that is) without making non-smokers worse off.  This is the definition of a Pareto improvement, in economist speak, and should be supported.  The designated areas would have to fully isolate the smokers, however, and allow a large enough buffer so that no smoke could waft out and make non-smokers worse off.

Nearly two in five Queensland households have rainwater tanks, according to new ABS data (Qld Water and Energy Use and Conservation):

There were 628,900 households in Queensland in October 2009 with a rainwater tank at their dwelling. This represented 38% of all households in Queensland.

Clearly rainwater tank installations must have surged in response to rainwater tank rebates (now ceased) and water saving requirements for new houses which can be met using rainwater tanks.  In the late 1990s, only 18% of Queensland households had rainwater tanks (see Table 1 on p. 2 of Guidance on use of rainwater tanks).

The Murray Darling Basin Plan, due for release sometime this year, is expected by many to include large reductions in water allocations across the Basin, with potentially adverse impacts on irrigated agriculture, including cotton, which is a major contributor to the economy of South-West Queensland.

This year’s Australian Cotton Conference, to be held at the Gold Coast Convention & Exhibition Centre over 10-12 August, includes an address by the Chairperson of the Murray Darling Basin Authority, Mike Taylor, on the Basin Plan and the challenges ahead – an address which is likely to generate much interest and discussion.

Following the federal election, the Basin Plan will be among the top two to three issues in the national debate for the rest of 2010.  If you’d like to get a sense of where the battlelines will be drawn, this conference would be a good place to start.

The greater Brisbane region passed a milestone population of 2 million people in 2008-09, according to data featured in the ABS’s Qld Stats publication released yesterday:

During the year to June 2009, Brisbane statistical division reached the population milestone of two million, which was 45% of Queensland’s population.

(The Brisbane statistical division comprises Brisbane, Ipswich, Logan, Redlands and the Moreton Bay Regional Council area to the north.)

In 1986, greater Brisbane had a population of 1.2 million (Qld Govt population projections).  It’s no wonder Brisbane is starting to feel crowded.

Driving through Camira and Springfield last weekend, I was struck by how strong the support for the Broncos rugby league team is out in the Ipswich region, with many fans flying small Broncos flags from their cars.  Hence the NRL is set to cause some soul searching for Ipswich region footy fans as it plans to introduce an Ipswich-based team into the national rugby league competition (Ipswich vital to NRL future).  NRL CEO David Gallop observed yesterday:

The corridor around Ipswich is the fastest growing region in Australia and we need to be a part of it. We need two teams in Brisbane and having a presence in the Ipswich region is a must for our game’s future.

Will Ipswich area residents support an Ipswich NRL team (possibly the Ipswich Jets) or stick with their beloved Broncos?  The Broncos after all has had its fair share of great players from Ipswich – Allan Langer and Kerrod and Kevin Walters, for example.  It will be a tough choice for many, but it’s undoubtedly great for the game.  The local derby matches at Suncorp Stadium will be awesome.

Brisbane’s Lord Mayor Campbell Newman is an optimistic man.  In a lunchtime talk today at the University of Queensland’s downturn offices on Queen St, Mr Newman argued that the population challenges the greater Brisbane region is facing over the next two decades are no greater than those faced over the previous two decades.  In terms of population growth rates, he’s right, according to the Qld Govt population projections.

Over the twenty years to 2006, the greater Brisbane region grew at an average annual rate of 2.1%, with the population increasing from 1.194 million in 1986 to 1.820 million in 2006.  Over the twenty five years from 2006 to 2031, greater Brisbane’s population is projected to grow to 2.727 million at an average annual rate of 1.6%.

So the population is growing at a slower rate than it did before, and the absolute increase in population is broadly comparable with what we’ve already coped with.  Of course, some will object to Mr Newman’s view on the grounds that the higher numbers will place a greater burden on the environment and result in more high-rise development and a loss of amenity for existing residents.

Certainly Brisbane and surrounding councils will face big challenges in managing the projected growth.  It’s good to know they are being led by a Lord Mayor with a positive, can do attitude.

Other issues the Lord Mayor discussed included the Commonwealth Government’s new interest in city planning issues.  Mr Newman made the frank observation (for a Liberal Lord Mayor) that the Howard Government really wasn’t that interested in these issues, preferring to leave them to the States and local governments.

While praising the current Commonwealth Government for its interest in city planning issues, Mr Newman noted it has to adopt a more consultative approach with local governments and the States, instead of a Canberra-knows-best attitude – an attitude which is questionable based on Canberra’s recent experience running school building and home insulation programs.

ABC News 24 is launching Thursday week (22 July), but it’s still unclear why we need a publicly funded 24 hour news channel, when the ABC already offers extensive coverage of breaking news stories – as do the commercial channels, come to think of it.  Did we need a publicly funded 24 hour news channel to learn about the Gulf War or, more recently, Rudd’s ousting, for example?

Mark Hollands, the CEO of the Newspapers’ Publishers Association, came out strong against ABC News 24 back in January (ABC pursues news at a cost to local content):

The announcement by the ABC of a 24-hour TV news station is a complete waste of money – finance that would be better spent encouraging and enhancing the nation’s talent in TV acting, scripting and production.

Public support for the ABC rests on it meeting a community need that the commercial channels won’t satisfy – e.g., broadcasting quality current affairs programs like 7.30 Report and Lateline rather than the tabloid-style Today Tonight or A Current Affair.

ABC News 24 is unlikely to meet any significant, unmet community need, however.  The media junkies who need 24 hour non-stop news are probably already hooked up to Foxtel, which hosts the excellent Sky News.  Also, they’ll be regularly checking news.com on their laptops, iPhones or iPads.

Sure, some may argue that there are people who can’t afford Foxtel or an internet-enabled device, but we’re talking about a small fraction of the population in today’s Australia, and I doubt their lives would be much enriched by a free-to-air 24 hour news channel. The community would likely be better served by re-directing public funding away from ABC News 24 and toward health, education or pensions.