Tag Archives: australia

Makin and Pearce confirm urgency of Budget repair in Conference of Economists paper

Posted on July 10, 2016 by Gene Tunny

At the Australian Conference of Economists in Adelaide this week, Griffith University Economics Professor Tony Makin and ESA Qld Vice President Julian Pearce will present a very interesting paper titled Fiscal Consolidation and Australia’s Optimal Public Debt. Tony and Julian … Continue reading →

Posted in Budget, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

To protect AAA, Federal Government needs to control age pension and manage the Force from the North

Posted on July 8, 2016 by Gene Tunny

What an extraordinary week it has been! We began the week with no clear election winner and the prospect of a hung parliament, and now we end it with the strong likelihood the Government is back with a majority of … Continue reading →

Posted in Agriculture, Budget, Macroeconomy, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

Qld has lowest annual growth in retail turnover among States and Territories

Posted on July 6, 2016 by Gene Tunny

Weak economic conditions in parts of regional Queensland, particularly the Townsville, Central Queensland and outback regions, have no doubt contributed to Queensland having the lowest through-the-year growth in retail turnover among States and Territories, according to May retail turnover data … Continue reading →

Posted in Macroeconomy, Retail trade, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Qld returns to fourth place in population growth as WA falls back

Posted on June 27, 2016 by Gene Tunny

The new population data released by the ABS last week reveal Queensland is still growing slower than the national average, and much slower than Victoria (see first chart below), a State to which we are still losing interstate migrants in … Continue reading →

Posted in Migration, Population, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Upcoming Colin Clark lecture on defending against collusion by suppliers

Posted on June 5, 2016 by Gene Tunny

Australia has had some notorious cases of suppliers colluding with each other to fix prices, such as the SEQ pre-mixed concrete cartel, among Pioneer, Boral and CSR in the early 1990s, and the Visy and Amcor cardboard box cartel in … Continue reading →

Posted in Competition policy, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

OECD right to recommend “Close vigilance on housing-market developments is still required”

Posted on June 4, 2016 by Gene Tunny

I was not surprised to learn yesterday that the OECD remains concerned about Australia’s housing market, which has shown signs of over-heating, particularly in Sydney, although the OECD did note that there are “receding risks from the housing boom” (see … Continue reading →

Posted in Housing, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Huge opportunities from closer relationships with Indonesia

Posted on May 29, 2016 by Gene Tunny

An enthusiastic and bright group of Indonesian officials arrived in Brisbane just over a week ago to undertake two-week short courses on public policy processes and public-private partnerships at the University of Queensland (see photo below). The courses are funded … Continue reading →

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Qld unemployment rate trends up and jobs trend down

Posted on May 20, 2016 by Gene Tunny

The April 2016 ABS jobs data confirm the view I have expressed for a while now that the Queensland economy is under-performing (see charts below and Treasury’s brief). While in South-East Queensland conditions appear reasonable, the regions are struggling with … Continue reading →

Posted in Labour market, Macroeconomy, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Transparency and good governance essential for successful infrastructure projects

Posted on May 19, 2016 by Gene Tunny

After my recent post on mega-projects, I came across this excellent presentation, by a Jacobs consultant and an Adelaide University academic, which was delivered to a conference in Adelaide last year: Jacobs presentation on infrastructure risks and mega projects The … Continue reading →

Posted in Infrastructure, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 6 Comments

New motor vehicle sales lower in Qld than before financial crisis

Posted on May 18, 2016 by Gene Tunny

New motor vehicle sales data for April released by the ABS yesterday support the RBA Board’s decision to cut the cash rate on Budget day earlier this month, with sales down 2.5% in April nationwide, and down 7.7% in Queensland, … Continue reading →

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