Tag Archives: queensland

Chat with 4BC’s Neil Breen on Qld Economic Recovery Plan, travel restrictions, deficits, and debt

Yesterday morning, I spoke with 4BC Breakfast presenter Neil Breen about the Queensland Government’s Economic Recovery Plan, travel restrictions, deficits, and debt. The recording has been published on the 4BC website: What’s in the book? Neil began by asking me … Continue reading

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Chat with Joe Branigan on LNP’s New Bradfield Scheme and 5% jobless target and Labor’s $600M Council cash splash

Yesterday afternoon I caught up with my good friend and former Treasury colleague Joe Branigan to chat about the upcoming Queensland election, and you can listen to our wide-ranging conversation via the player/link below. Among other issues, we chatted about … Continue reading

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Qld’s surging public service – clarification of Australian article comments

I’m quoted in today’s Australian article Polls back Labor’s jobs push, and I need to clarify this reported comment: Economist Gene Tunny said that Queensland’s public sector had been stable through the pandemic and that had steadied the state’s job … Continue reading

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My Courier-Mail comments on Qld Economic Recovery Plan and lack of Budget transparency

Yesterday afternoon I spoke with Courier-Mail journalist Michael Wray about the depressing nature of the state election campaign, which is being held without a full set of budget forward estimates having been published by the Queensland Government. I’m grateful to … Continue reading

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Qld has highest unemployment rate, but we’ve actually coped with COVID-shock better than most states

Queensland once again has the highest unemployment rate in Australia (7.7% compared with a national average of 6.9%), as revealed by the September Labour Force Survey data released by the ABS yesterday, but we need to be careful in jumping … Continue reading

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Frydenberg’s won’t-die-wondering Budget

Treasurer Josh Frydenberg delivered a strong speech tonight in handing down what I’d label as his won’t-die-wondering budget, or possibly as the Nixon-goes-to-China budget, a federal budget with an expected current financial year deficit of $214 billion and projected total … Continue reading

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Regulations rushed through in Qld, as revealed by QPC Annual Report 2019-20

The Queensland Productivity Commission’s 2019-20 Annual Report has revealed a huge increase in the number of state government regulatory changes which have been excluded from the rigour of the normal regulatory assessment process (see chart below, which is based on … Continue reading

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Auditor-General exposes deep flaws in Queensland’s governance

Queensland’s Auditor-General is having a big week, with the publication of hard-hitting reports into the latest Queensland Health IT bungle (see today’s Courier-Mail) and the Government’s economic response to COVID-19. The report on the economic response revealed a lack of … Continue reading

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Second GC motorway should have been built decades ago – BODBTN extract

It was good to see in a media statement yesterday the state government’s commitment to a second M1: The Palaszczuk Government’s economic recovery plan will be significantly boosted with a $755 million commitment to build the 16-kilometre stage one of … Continue reading

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Big questions about Qld Chief Health Officer’s judgment – Premier needs to show leadership

Queensland’s border restrictions with ACT (and arguably with NSW, too) were always a huge over-reaction and the events of yesterday revealed their tragic consequences, with a young woman prevented from attending her father’s funeral, even though the risk of her … Continue reading

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