Tag Archives: australia

Cap on Government size desirable, but probably unachievable

Posted on April 17, 2013 by Gene Tunny

The great British-Australian economist Colin Clark, who Keynes regarded as “first class” and who served in top Queensland public service roles in the 1940s, famously speculated that Governments couldn’t grow beyond 25% of GDP without causing major economic problems. Given … Continue reading →

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

Six of the ten high growth mining towns in Queensland

Posted on April 11, 2013 by Gene Tunny

The ABS published an excellent Australian Social Trends piece on Towns of the Mining Boom yesterday, noting the impact of fly-in, fly-out (FIFO) workers. Six of the ten high growth mining towns reported by the ABS are in Queensland (see … Continue reading →

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Top power regulator skeptical about “gold plating” allegation

Posted on April 9, 2013 by Gene Tunny

I attended an excellent function on electricity distribution pricing at Customs House, Brisbane last night which was organised by the UQ Energy Initiative. Panelists included John Pierce, Chair of the Australian Energy Market Commission (AEMC), Tony Bellas, who recently chaired … Continue reading →

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Major projects construction activity still strong, but appears to be peaking

Posted on April 3, 2013 by Gene Tunny

RBA Governor Glenn Stevens, who incidentally was re-appointed for another three years today, has recently observed that the mining construction boom would peak in the near future. The latest ABS data on engineering construction activity appear to confirm this view, … Continue reading →

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Is it worth paying $10K each for temporary film industry jobs?

Posted on April 2, 2013 by Gene Tunny

So Captain Nemo is coming to Australia, possibly to the Gold Coast, and the Australian Government will provide a $21 million subsidy, as reported earlier today in the Gold Coast Bulletin (Govt commits $21m for sci-fi film): THE Federal Government … Continue reading →

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

Tourism had reasonable December quarter, but room for improvement

Posted on March 27, 2013 by Gene Tunny

The ABS released its December quarter 2012 Tourist Accommodation data today and they confirmed tourism has recovered significantly since the financial crisis but not to previous highs (see charts below).  

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Buy locally campaign unnecessary, but harmless

Posted on March 25, 2013 by Gene Tunny

It seems obvious to me that buying from local businesses is good for the local economy and I suspect it’s obvious to most Queenslanders, too, but for some reason we need a Government information campaign to tell us this (Think … Continue reading →

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GFC-induced frugality hasn’t stopped drift to private schools

Posted on March 20, 2013 by Gene Tunny

In the wake of the financial crisis, Australians started saving more (see my post Retail trade restrained by stubbornly high saving rate), but it appears they are still willing to spend money on a private school education for their children. … Continue reading →

Posted in Education | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

Pause in recovery in new motor vehicle sales in Qld

Posted on March 18, 2013 by Gene Tunny

While Queensland had decent growth of 6.9% through-the-year to February 2013 in new motor vehicle sales, we actually had the lowest growth rate across all States and Territories in new sales (see today’s new ABS data). Eyeballing the data, I’m … Continue reading →

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RBA says SEQ builders see signs of improvement in sector

Posted on March 14, 2013 by Gene Tunny

Christopher Kent of the RBA has given an informative speech on Recent Developments in the Housing Market, in which he noted there are signs of improvement in the SEQ building industry: Approvals in Queensland have been subdued, particularly on the … Continue reading →

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