Tag Archives: australia

How the Qld economy has changed in recent decades

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

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

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?

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

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

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

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

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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Qld has outperformed rest of Australia this decade so far

The May Labour Force data released by the ABS yesterday confirmed Queensland has outperformed the rest of Australia over the last couple of years. My view is that this is due to a range of factors including a surge in … Continue reading

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Consumer confidence indicators are very concerning

As always it’s important not to read too much into one piece of data, and generally I’ve been optimistic about the Australian economy and even more so about the Queensland economy over 2022-23, but the latest consumer confidence figures are … Continue reading

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