Tag Archives: trains

What the QCA had to say about special deals like the Downer Maryborough trains deal

As a Queenslander who grew up during the days of Sir Joh, I’ve come to expect a certain level of impropriety in Queensland politics, so I haven’t been surprised governments since Sir Joh’s have had questionable dealings, although they’ve been … Continue reading

Posted in Competition policy | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Special deals can be bad deals for Government – my comments in today’s Courier-Mail re. Maryborough trains contract

The Queensland Government is facing big questions over the closeness of two prominent lobbyists to the highest levels of government in the state (e.g. see this Brisbane Times report). I don’t necessarily have a problem with lobbyists, so long as: … Continue reading

Posted in Queensland Government | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Reflections on Gough Whitlam

I recall with great sentiment now, after news of the death of former PM Gough Whitlam today, that Gough gave an excellent after dinner speech at the UQ Law Ball at the Hilton Hotel in Brisbane in 1996. The former … Continue reading

Posted in Brisbane, Transport | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

$5 billion Bus and Train Tunnel has unimpressive benefit-cost ratio

The Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the Bus and Train (BaT) Tunnel from Dutton Park to Spring Hill is out for comment, and I’m rather unimpressed by the benefit-cost ratio, estimated by Deloitte at 1.16. That is, benefits are estimated … Continue reading

Posted in Transport | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 7 Comments

SEQ has expensive public transport due to low density and costly trains

While hard on commuters, the recent Translink fare hike (see Brisbane Times coverage) still leaves South-East Queensland with a heavily subsidised public transport system, which it will continue to have given a relatively low population density and historically poor choices … Continue reading

Posted in Brisbane, Transport | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments