Tag Archives: australia

Potential impact on Ford sales of plant closures

Posted on May 25, 2013 by Gene Tunny

Jeff Waters of ABC News Victoria interviewed me today regarding the potential impact on Ford sales of “badwill” and anxiety over servicing and parts availability created by the announced plant closures: Buyers cautious after Ford’s announced closures I told Jeff … Continue reading →

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Future of Australian car industry depends a lot on the exchange rate

Posted on May 23, 2013 by Gene Tunny

It’s been clear for a long time – well, all the time since Mitsubishi shut down in early 2008 – that Ford was the next Mitsubishi, so today’s plant closures aren’t that unexpected. Once again, as I more-or-less observed in … Continue reading →

Posted in Industry policy | Tagged , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Resources sector investment has peaked, but likely to remain strong for a few years yet

Posted on May 22, 2013 by Gene Tunny

The Australian Bureau of Resources and Energy Economics released its latest review of Resources and Energy Projects today (see Committed investment in resources and energy major projects at peak). It shows that although resources sector capital expenditure has peaked, it should … Continue reading →

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GST changes should be considered as part of wide-ranging tax and expenditure review

Posted on May 20, 2013 by Gene Tunny

Pat Hession from the Drive program on 630 ABC North Queensland interviewed me this afternoon on the merits of increasing the GST rate and broadening its base to include exempt items such as fresh food. I noted that, from an … Continue reading →

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Long-term education target unlikely to be met – haven’t we learned from previous unachievable targets?

Posted on May 15, 2013 by Gene Tunny

The National Plan for School Improvement released with the 2013-14 Commonwealth Budget has the potential to signficantly lift educational outcomes across Australia and is therefore one of the positives of this Budget. But I’m skeptical of the Government’s stated ambition … Continue reading →

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More signs of slowing growth in resources sector – bad news for Qld budget

Posted on May 13, 2013 by Gene Tunny

Queensland Treasury already made a big downward revision of $1.4 billion over four years in mining royalties in the 2012-13 Mid-Year Fiscal and Economic Review last December, and it may need to shave some more off given the bad news … Continue reading →

Posted in Budget, Housing, Macroeconomy, Mining | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Regional Qld made impressive contribution to national economic growth over 2000s

Posted on May 9, 2013 by Gene Tunny

I’m very impressed by the just released Sustainable Australia Report 2013: Conversations with the Future, which was produced by the National Sustainability Council for Sustainability and Environment Minister Tony Burke. The report covers a wide range of environmental sustainability issues … Continue reading →

Posted in Gold Coast, Macroeconomy, Townsville | Tagged , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Qld and WA were on similar growth paths, but Qld got knocked off by GFC

Posted on May 8, 2013 by Gene Tunny

This month’s RBA chart pack contains a nice, informative chart depicting State shares of Australia’s GDP (see below). It shows that, up until the financial crisis in 2008, Queensland, like WA, was increasing its share of national GDP, but stalled … Continue reading →

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Forward estimates budgeting needs rethinking in more volatile economic times

Posted on April 29, 2013 by Gene Tunny

Today’s speech by Prime Minister Gillard is a good attempt at explaining the Government’s budgetary challenges, but I was unconvinced by this line in the speech: The Budget will outline the fiscal path for the coming four years, one designed … Continue reading →

Posted in Budget | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Qld jobless rate not “historically high”

Posted on April 22, 2013 by Gene Tunny

I agree with CommSec that Queensland is in the middle of the pack in terms of economic performance among the States, but I disagree with their observation in the State of the States report that “the jobless rate remains historically high.” … Continue reading →

Posted in Labour market | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments