Tag Archives: privatisation

Fake privatisation of Titles Registry helping Qld Gov’t pretend it has debt management plan

Posted on January 17, 2022 by Gene Tunny

This post is an early draft of an article I’m preparing for a public finance or public policy journal about the Queensland Government’s accounting trickery regarding the Titles Registry last year. The state government has violated some well-established principles for … Continue reading →

Posted in Budget, Queensland Government | Tagged , , , , , , | 6 Comments

Chat about the Crown S04 with ABC’s Steven Austin

Posted on December 8, 2020 by Gene Tunny

Yesterday afternoon I had a great chat with 612 ABC Brisbane’s Steven Austin about season 4 of The Crown, specifically about its depiction of Margaret Thatcher, which was a topic of conversation in my last Economics Explored podcast episode. Below … Continue reading →

Posted in Macroeconomy | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Quiggin’s Economics in Two Lessons should be on ECON101 reading lists for decades to come

Posted on July 20, 2019 by Gene Tunny

John Quiggin, the UQ Vice Chancellor’s Senior Fellow in Economics, has a new book out, Economics in Two Lessons: Why Markets Work so Well, and Why They Can Fail so Badly, which I can highly recommend. I’ve enjoyed dipping in … Continue reading →

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

Forty years after Thatcher’s election – CIS event in Brisbane on Thursday 2 May

Posted on April 30, 2019 by Gene Tunny

This Friday, the 3rd of May, is the 40th anniversary of the 1979 UK election which saw Margaret Thatcher become Prime Minister. It is doubtful that any UK Prime Minister since Thatcher will loom as large in our collective memory … Continue reading →

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

Ten years since Queensland lost its AAA credit rating

Posted on February 20, 2019 by Gene Tunny

Ten years ago, on 20 February 2009, then Queensland Treasurer Andrew Fraser released the Economic and Fiscal Update which forecast lower revenues, large deficits and burgeoning debt. S&P promptly downgraded the state of Queensland from a AAA credit rating to AA+ … Continue reading →

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Coal, climate change, solar & batteries – why Qld Treasury wanted to offload the state’s energy assets

Posted on December 14, 2018 by Gene Tunny

The recent Financial Times report Development bank halts coal financing to combat climate change, reprinted in this morning’s AFR, should prompt some serious long-term thinking from the Queensland government and local governments with regional economies heavily dependent on coal mining, … Continue reading →

Posted in Budget, Mackay, Mining, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

NSW winning fiscal State of Origin

Posted on June 21, 2017 by Gene Tunny

My former Treasury colleague and old friend Joe Branigan, now at Cadence Economics and SMART Infrastructure Facility, was quick to tweet a State-of-Origin themed chart yesterday following the release of the NSW State Budget (see Joe’s chart below). As noted … Continue reading →

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

Inquiry should consider contestability and privatisation of QR services

Posted on October 25, 2016 by Gene Tunny

One of the alleged benefits of public provision of services is that levels of service and reliability are higher than for private provision, but the crisis engulfing Queensland Rail at the moment suggests we should question that purported benefit. It … Continue reading →

Posted in Queensland Rail, Transport, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 6 Comments

Comments on asset sales/privatisation in Saturday’s Courier-Mail

Posted on September 24, 2016 by Gene Tunny

At the IAQ Infrastructure Summit in Brisbane on Thursday last week, several participants lamented that Queensland was missing out on the benefits of so-called asset recycling that NSW and Victoria were expecting. The privatisation issue will not die in Queensland, … Continue reading →

Posted in Infrastructure, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

My comments in today’s Courier-Mail on $3bn Qld revenue write-down

Posted on June 8, 2016 by Gene Tunny

Yesterday’s announcement that the Queensland Budget will suffer a further $3 billion in revenue write-downs confirmed what I have been saying for a while now about Queensland’s under-performing economy. I am quoted in today’s Courier-Mail (pay-walled, sorry) noting that the … Continue reading →

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