The budget seems to have gone down in a rather subdued way this year. Even the annual Bruce Hwy funding bitch-fest has been somewhat muted.

Having just this week travelled the entire Qld stretch of east coast highway any complaints from FNQ would appear lacking in credibility. My proprietary Roadworks Delay Index* was heavily weighted Far North on current works. Meanwhile not even a 5:30am start from the Gold Coast could prevent a congestion full stop by Logan!

However if all we have is anecdotes then we have nothing. So among the more disappointing budget sleepers was funding for the ABS: Cuts to ABS funding likely to make better regional data a pipe-dream

One of the less publicised elements of the 2017-18 Budget released on Tuesday was the decision to slash funding to the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS). Tucked away in Budget Paper 4; Agency Resourcing is a reduction in funding for the agency of some $218m (33.6%) for the next financial year. Further cuts are projected in 2018-19 and 2020-21 to bring expenses down to $375m by 2020-21 from $622m 2016-17.

The general budget measures included restrictions on some of the more blatant negative gearing rorts. Particularly this: Landlords lose travel claims in negative gearing crackdown

Australia’s million-strong contingent of negatively geared landlords will no longer be able to claim travel expenses for inspecting their properties, boosting the budget by $540 million.

While this rort is indefensible it is sometimes used to fund holidays in attractive locations so could also more impact Cairns.

Otherwise some interesting budget commentary today at Queensland Economy Watch

*may be unreliable and/or unduly influenced by personal temperamental factors

Uncategorized