Tag Archives: australia

Interest Rates, Australia’s 3 Biggest Challenges, Global Fertility Crash, & the Tobin Tax Debate w/ John Humphreys, Australian Taxpayers’ Alliance

Posted on July 12, 2025 by Gene Tunny

The RBA will occasionally make mistakes, but abolishing RBA independence, as some commentators have suggested after this week’s surprising cash rate decision, would be a bad idea. I defended central bank independence in my latest Australian Taxpayers’ Alliance live stream … Continue reading →

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Australia’s Productivity Problem: Can It Be Fixed? w/ John Humphreys, Australian Taxpayers’ Alliance

Posted on June 14, 2025 by Gene Tunny

In our latest Australian Taxpayers’ Alliance (ATA) livestream, ATA Chief Economist John Humphreys and I dissect the causes behind Australia’s productivity slump (Figure 1), analysing recent GDP data and the impacts of labour market policies, regulatory constraints, the high cost … Continue reading →

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How the Qld economy has changed in recent decades

Posted on February 26, 2024 by Gene Tunny

The state and national economies have experienced similar trends by industry since 2000. The big changes have been the 2-3x increase in the mining sector’s importance since China’s economic growth started significantly influencing the global economy in the early-2000s (Figure … Continue reading →

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The Queensland Economy Post-Palaszczuk

Posted on December 30, 2023 by Gene Tunny

Summary Given its strong potential, the Queensland economy should be doing much better than it is, particularly regarding its business and housing investment levels. Furthermore, the state has not had the rebound in manufacturing that Palaszczuk suggested at her final … Continue reading →

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“Axis of evil” had good reasons to block Housing Australia Future Fund

Posted on June 24, 2023 by Gene Tunny

I was stunned earlier this week when I heard the federal Greens had been accused of being in an “Axis of evil” with the Coalition in blocking the Housing Australia Future Fund (HAFF). Sure, the Greens’ call for rent controls … Continue reading →

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What is the fiscal impulse from the Australian Budget?

Posted on May 23, 2023 by Gene Tunny

The Australian Government is moving in the right direction, but not fast enough, with fiscal policy if it wants to fight inflation. It appears too reliant on the expected cessation of pandemic-related stimulated measures to support its claim that the … Continue reading →

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National Electricity Market malfunction of June 2022: my latest podcast episode

Posted on September 10, 2022 by Gene Tunny

One of the biggest challenges facing advanced economies is maintaining reliable and reasonably priced electricity as we decarbonise to combat climate change. This year we’ve seen some ominous signs that this may not go well. The war in Ukraine has … Continue reading →

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Qld hospitality sector has had stronger recovery than NSW and Victorian sectors

Posted on June 20, 2022 by Gene Tunny

Earlier this month, Queensland Airports boss Amelia Evans was reported by the Courier-Mail as saying that travel was bouncing back strongly. Queensland Airports operates the Gold Coast, Townsville, Mount Isa, and Longreach airports, so Ms Evans would have a good … Continue reading →

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Qld & Australia exporting lower volumes but earning more, due to higher coal and iron ore prices

Posted on June 19, 2022 by Gene Tunny

The pandemic and China’s trade restrictions have no doubt had some adverse effects on commodity volumes exported from Queensland, but super high commodity prices, associated partly with the war in Ukraine, have more than offset those impacts when it comes … Continue reading →

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Japan is Qld’s top export destination once again, but only by a small margin

Posted on June 18, 2022 by Gene Tunny

Thanks to the Japanese Ambassador for highlighting that Japan has overtaken China to return to being the top destination for Queensland exports, as Japan was for several decades prior to 2013 (see the chart below including data up to April … Continue reading →

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