March 6, 2015
Among the activity indicators, manufacturing production (down 3.7 points to 45.0) and new orders (down 3.4 points to 44.2) continued to decline, and manufacturing sales (steady at 45.3) contracted for a ninth consecutive month (readings below 50 indicate a contraction in activity, with the distance from 50 indicative of the strength of the decrease). The supplier deliveries (down 6.0 points to 46.9) and stock levels (down 4.4 points to 47.0) sub-indexes returned to contraction after brief expansions in January. Following further falls in the dollar, only the manufacturing exports sub-index signalled expansion, for a third month (unchanged at 53.9 points). Much of this growth in exports was concentrated in the food and beverages sub-sector, one of three manufacturing sub-sectors to expand in February (down 2.8 points to 60.1). The smaller textiles, clothing & furniture (down 3.4 points to 56.0) and non-metallic mineral products (down 2.3 points to 66.2) sub-sectors also expanded for a fourth consecutive month. “While there are bright patches, most…
March 6, 2015
Queensland is an interesting case. Just over four years ago the nation looked on as Queensland went through devastating floods. Then premier Anna Bligh earned high praise for her management and performance during that time. Her handling of the disaster and the media during that time was, in the eyes of most Australians, inspirational. Roll forward 14 months and that respect stood for nought as she underwent the heaviest defeat in the state’s history. Interestingly, it appeared it was the policies of the Labor party around privatisation of public assets to reduce state debt that delivered the killer blow. After 14 years of Labor government, and with such a massive swing, Campbell Newman would have been forgiven for thinking his job was safe for at least two terms. And it probably should have…