Tag Archives: subsidies

Qld Gov’t $3k EV subsidy looks like poor value for money for taxpayers

As far as I can tell, the Queensland Government hasn’t released any economic analysis of its $3,000 electric vehicle (EV) subsidy, probably because, if it did, the analysis would reveal the subsidy was a poor use of public funds. Some … Continue reading

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

‘Hollywood Australia’ supported by generous tax credits and other government subsidies

The Australian is reporting ‘Hollywood Australia’ a $1.5bn movie blockbuster extravaganza, covering the surge in international film productions such as Thor: Love and Thunder filming in Australia. This is partly related to Australia’s success in managing COVID and also to … Continue reading

Posted in Industry policy, Tax | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Picking winners – industry policy podcast chat with Craig Lawrence

With the Queensland Government willing to invest $200 million in Virgin Australia to keep its HQ in Brisbane, I thought it would be timely to record a podcast interview on investment attraction and industry policy more broadly. On Tuesday, I … Continue reading

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

Money on the Screen – film industry episode of Economics Explained podcast

The latest episode of my Economics Explained podcast, Money on the Screen, explores the economics of the film industry. What affects the return on investment in films? Should governments subsidise film productions as they do in Australia? In the episode, … Continue reading

Posted in Gold Coast, Queensland Government, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Subsidised blockbusters like Aquaman crowding out local film productions

There is new anecdotal evidence from film industry insiders that subsidised blockbusters such as Aquaman, currently filming on the Gold Coast, are not delivering the economic benefits they allegedly deliver. International film productions on the GC have benefited from federal … Continue reading

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Ex-Holden boss confirms that Carr’s car cash was excessive

Lately I have been hearing a number of people lamenting the loss of car manufacturing in Australia. The loss of jobs is certainly devastating for many former assembly line workers of Holden, Ford and Toyota, who may struggle to find … Continue reading

Posted in Industry policy, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Ragnarok in Brissywood

Next week, the Brisbane CBD road closures for the filming of scenes for Thor: Ragnarok will obviously, through the disruption to traffic and local businesses, add to the already large multi-million dollar cost to the Queensland community of hosting the … Continue reading

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QCA finds multiple policy failures associated with billions in industry assistance in Qld

It appears that the QCA’s draft report on Industry Assistance in Queensland was released last Friday, a Friday before a long weekend, traditionally a good time to release reports that governments would rather be ignored and forgotten. But this report … Continue reading

Posted in Industry policy | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Reforming solar cross-subsidy is good policy, but unclear why $3.4 billion should be locked up in Cost of Living Fund

The Government’s apparent plan to end the cross-subsidy from households without solar cells to those with solar cells, and to fund the feed-in tariff through an explicit subsidy, is a sound one (see Brisbane Times coverage Power bills to come … Continue reading

Posted in Budget, Queensland Government | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

New Government should reject car industry begging

Since the late 1940s, Australia has bought itself a car industry, first through very high tariff protection that rose to around 57% by the 1980s, and then through financial assistance that, in part, replaced the benefits of tariff protection to … Continue reading

Posted in Industry policy | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments