Tag Archives: budget

Borrowing to Pay Wages

Posted on August 6, 2025 by Gene Tunny

I caught up with Steve Austin on 612 ABC Brisbane this morning to discuss Sir Leo Hielscher’s sterling record as Queensland Under Treasurer in the seventies and eighties and to compare our state’s previous stellar financial performance with the mess … Continue reading →

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Big Budget Challenge for New Qld Treasurer

Posted on April 1, 2025 by Gene Tunny

Today’s Courier-Mail article reporting that Townsville University Hospital can’t afford to fix its elevators reminded me of something a former state Under-Treasurer told me when I researched my 2018 book Beautiful One Day, Broke the Next. He told me governments … Continue reading →

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Federal Budget, the Olympics, & Trump’s Tariffs Chat with Damian Coory & Dan Petrie

Posted on March 29, 2025 by Gene Tunny

Is there a brilliant ‘Art of the Deal’ strategy behind Trump’s tariff policy? It has been a big failure for the US so far, as attested to by the 7% fall in the US share market since inauguration day (see … Continue reading →

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Fossil fuels to figure in Qld’s future for decades to come

Posted on March 15, 2024 by Gene Tunny

Despite the Queensland Government promoting the so-called Clean Economy, our state Treasury is still highly dependent on coal royalties, and the prosperity of our regional economies is highly correlated with coal mining. Coal prices remain at high levels and may … Continue reading →

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How the Palaszczuk Gov’t Failed to Abide By Its Own Fiscal Principles | What it Means for the Miles Gov’t

Posted on February 3, 2024 by Gene Tunny

The Palaszczuk Government breached its own self-imposed fiscal principles and had to introduce new weaker principles in 2021. The Queensland Government, now headed by Premier Miles but with the same Treasurer, is at risk of breaching two of its revised … 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’s the best measure of the Qld Gov’t budget balance? Net Operating Balance vs Fiscal Balance

Posted on June 22, 2023 by Gene Tunny

On Tuesday night I was on a panel discussing the Queensland state budget at an Australian Taxpayers’ Alliance (ATA) event held at the Paddington Tavern. One of the points discussed was the spin regarding the biggest-ever surplus for Queensland of … Continue reading →

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Over half of Qld Budget’s $60bn of revenue upgrades used for additional spending over FY21 to FY24

Posted on June 19, 2023 by Gene Tunny

Queensland general government revenues are $60 billion higher than once expected over 2020-21 to 2023-24, but debt is only $23 billion lower, with total spending revised up by around $32 billion. Some of this is understandable due to higher inflation … 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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Qld economic outlook talk at Phil Di Bella’s Coffee Commune this Friday 19 May

Posted on May 16, 2023 by Gene Tunny

The big economic question for 2023 is how much the Australian economy will slow down in response to interest rate increases, regarding which we should expect more to come. Queensland’s economy will benefit from a high-performing mining sector, but there’s … Continue reading →

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