The building industry in Queensland is a major part of the economy and because our economy is not as diversified as the Southern States, it is of greater economic significance. The industry is structured like a pyramid with Owner/Developers at the top, Project Managers, Head Contractors and finally Sub-Contractors at the bottom.

Greetings to all avid readers from the Black Stump. The Stump was confined to the reservation in the latter part of 2017, but we are not silenced for long. There is just so much material to write about!

We will risk being accused of recalling only our accurate predictions, rather than our missed ones. The less said about Theresa May the better.

However, a few comments about Donald Trump are in order. In this blog in early 2017 we argued that Trump had the right policies for business; that his tax cuts would be the centrepiece of economic growth in the USA.

We choked on our breakfast cereal this week when Bill Shorten announced Labour’s plan to confiscate the cash refund component of franked dividends. So much has been published already, it is not necessary to repeat. Readers can do well by following this link to Henry Ergas in The Australian.