Tag Archives: qic

Qld Budget doesn’t tell the full story on government’s borrowing costs

Posted on December 5, 2020 by Gene Tunny

State Treasurer Cameron Dick, who handed down the 2020-21 Queensland Budget earlier this week, has impressed me with his chutzpah, demonstrated, for example, by this audacious statement in his Budget speech (on p. 38): Not only are our interest costs … Continue reading →

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ABC radio interview on COVID-19 Fiscal and Economic Review

Posted on September 9, 2020 by Gene Tunny

Yesterday afternoon I had a great conversation with Steve Austin on his 612 ABC Brisbane Drive program regarding the state government’s budget update it published on Monday. We discussed the issues I covered in my post Woefully inadequate budget update, … Continue reading →

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Woefully inadequate Qld budget update

Posted on September 7, 2020 by Gene Tunny

We already knew the Queensland budget has deteriorated massively due to the COVID-crisis, so today’s state budget update was not surprising in terms of the huge fiscal deficits it announced, $9.3 billion in 2019-20 and $13.1 billion in 2020-21. Nor … Continue reading →

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ABC radio comments re. Virgin: QIC needs to think for itself and resist any gov’t pressure

Posted on May 15, 2020 by Gene Tunny

The current investigation of a potential investment in Virgin Australia will be a defining moment for the Queensland Investment Corporation (QIC). On ABC radio yesterday morning, I told host Bec Levingston that QIC needs to show it can act as … Continue reading →

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Debbie hits Qld Budget, but QIC may help out Government by investing in Cross River Rail

Posted on April 6, 2017 by Gene Tunny

Cyclone Debbie and the floods that followed have tragically resulted in the loss of at least five lives and have done billions of dollars’ worth of damage in Queensland and NSW. And through lower coal royalties (largely associated with an … Continue reading →

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

Posted on March 29, 2017 by Gene Tunny

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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Makin and Pearce confirm urgency of Budget repair in Conference of Economists paper

Posted on July 10, 2016 by Gene Tunny

At the Australian Conference of Economists in Adelaide this week, Griffith University Economics Professor Tony Makin and ESA Qld Vice President Julian Pearce will present a very interesting paper titled Fiscal Consolidation and Australia’s Optimal Public Debt. Tony and Julian … Continue reading →

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Government ownership of QIC becoming less appropriate every day

Posted on May 7, 2016 by Gene Tunny

The Queensland Treasurer’s media release yesterday regarding QIC’s purchase of a large stake in a Northern Australian cattle business should have raised eyebrows: Treasurer Curtis Pitt has welcomed today’s announcement that the Queensland Government’s investment manager, QIC, will acquire 80 … Continue reading →

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Qld Government opts for accounting tricks rather than true budget repair

Posted on July 14, 2015 by Gene Tunny

In the 2015-16 Queensland Budget, the Government has shown it subscribes to the maxim that one might as well be hanged for a sheep as for a lamb. The Government is undertaking at least three measures of dubious merit, including … Continue reading →

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QIC could still invest Govt super funds in GOCs, while Govt would argue it hasn’t technically raided super

Posted on July 13, 2015 by Gene Tunny

I recalled a great scene from one of my all-time favourite movies All the President’s Men when the Queensland Government today issued what may be a “non-denial denial” regarding the alleged Budget plan to use super funds to pay down … Continue reading →

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