Tag Archives: northqueensland

More work needed to show SEQ Olympics would stack up

The increasingly likely 2032 SEQ Olympics stimulated a lot of debate across Australia last week, and I expect scepticism of the Olympics will grow in the lead up to the Games. At the moment, regional Queenslanders such as Robbie Katter … Continue reading

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Disappointing that drugs won’t be decriminalised in Qld

As former Queensland Premier Campbell Newman observed early last year, we have lost the war on drugs. So it would appear sensible to consider different approaches, including different degrees of decriminalisation or legalisation. Regrettably, the Queensland Government has rejected a … Continue reading

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Townsville ESA seminar on regional economies incl. new NQ state discussion

I visited my hometown of Townsville last week to participate in an Economic Society of Australia (Qld) seminar on regional economies in a digitised and globalised world. The seminar feature presentations by James Cook University Associate Professor Riccardo Welters (Regional … Continue reading

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

Is North Qld under-funded by the State Government relative to the South East?

In Saturday’s Courier-Mail, State Affairs Editor Steven Wardill reported on the unmovable perception among North Queenslanders that their region is under-funded by the State Government, despite official data showing otherwise. Wardill noted: Facts and figures are dismissed out of hand. … Continue reading

Posted in Infrastructure, North Queensland, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 15 Comments

Selling QIC highly desirable and would avoid allegations of political interference regarding mega mine infrastructure

First, my thoughts and prayers are with the people of North Queensland as they wake up to the devastation from Cyclone Debbie. In his extraordinary eulogy for Marie Antoinette, the Anglo-Irish statesman Edmund Burke lamented that the French Queen had … Continue reading

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Qld should benefit from strong economic performance in NSW and Victoria

The August job vacancies data released by the ABS yesterday confirm the strong economic performance we are seeing in NSW and Victoria, and they also show encouraging signs for Queensland (see charts below). Given national markets and the linkages between … Continue reading

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

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

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

High insurance costs likely to impede development of Northern Australia

Since Cyclone Yasi, insurance premiums have soared in North Queensland as insurance companies have reassessed the risks of insuring properties in the region. Just how much premiums have increased is illustrated by some figures provided to the Joint Select Committee … Continue reading

Posted in Cairns, North Queensland, Townsville | Tagged , , , , , , | 5 Comments

Paul Romer backs Galt’s Gulch for Northern Australia

In her 1957 novel Atlas Shrugged, Ayn Rand imagined a libertarian community, Galt’s Gulch in Colorado, in which capitalists were free to live unconstrained by Government regulations and didn’t have to pay taxes to support the “moochers.” One of the … Continue reading

Posted in North Queensland | Tagged , , , , , , | 2 Comments

North Qld struggling to recover – Cairns looking slightly better, but not Townsville yet

North and Far North Queensland have had lacklustre economies in the years since the financial crisis, with Cairns especially having suffered from the combined impact of the tourism downturn and an over-supply of properties due to a pre-financial crisis construction … Continue reading

Posted in Cairns, Townsville | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments