Despite the
claims of the
Abbott Government that the
budget has turbo-charged
small business , all over North Australia the lights are going out , shutters coming
down on many businesses .
In Darwin, old hands tell you that business
is tough and that there
is a growing number of empty
shops. It is widely rumoured that
some developers are in
financial trouble.
Houses are becoming
slow to sell , prices coming down . With the new
Paspaley Pearls tower soon to open in the CBD it is
anticipated much of the space will be
taken up by government
departments who will move out of existing buildings , resulting in an oversupply
of commercial space .
Several Territory iron ore mines have closed
and Rio Tinto’s
“ bombshell” announcement that it
would not put any more money into the ERA proposed Ranger
3 Deeps ore body underground uranium mine added to the uncertainty , causing ERA shares
to plunge 48 per cent .
The
Territory’s unpopular CLP
Chief Minister , Adam
Giles , now hanging on by the
skin of his teeth , has stirred up the
workforce by wanting to
bring in specialist workers from overseas .
In Western Australia , houses in Karratha , which were selling for $1million during the mining boom, are now being offered for $500,000 , with next to no takers and many untenanted.
In
Queensland the media often seems to have an unquestioning cargo cult mentality when reporting
proposed mining and other , often contentious , major projects. The ABC
Media Watch highlighted errors in the Murdoch Brisbane
Courier Mail effusive
coverage of the proposed
Adani coal project . A major blue pointed out being that
the paper said the project would result in 10,000 jobs. Not so, Adani itself
said 1400. Nevertheless , the Townsville Bulletin, another Murdoch blat , ran with the 10,000
figure .
In respect
of small business media
coverage in Townsville, this blog opined that reporters
don’t seem to walk about the city and
see obvious signs of
stress and other things happening
on their patch , on the waterfront , not
the subject of a hand out or mentioned on vaporous social media . We pointed
out that in the
Castletown shopping centre a number of shops had closed, one Heavenly Fragrance , the space taken over by a
fishing tackle venture...now cleared out hook line and
sinker , empty .
At another
major Townsville shopping centre
, Stockland , Mathers Shoes , part of the Fusion Retail Brands
Pty. Ltd. chain , is having a Townsville closing
down sale . A Mathers outlet closed in Mount
Isa some time ago .
The collapse of another major firm , Carmichael Builders , in Townsville on an $18million aged care centre for Queensland Baptists has once again seen subcontractors left in the lurch , owed hundreds of thousands.
Apart from many empty
shops and workshops up for sale or lease in Townsville, there are many other going businesses on offer.
The ousted former
LNP Minister for Local Government , Recovery and Resilience
in the Newman Government , David Crisafulli , is leaving
Townsville for Brisbane .
He
denied that he would seek preselection
for the federal seat of Herbert held by his
tubby , soft shoe shuffler LNP colleague
, Ewen Jones . Jones once described Crisafulli as Chicken Little , a pullet who thought the world was
coming to an end .
Before packing up
his kitbag and heading off for
BrisVegas, Crisafulli , whose electorate office in Aitkenvale was just
round the corner
from the adult shop , Cupid’s Cabin, vibrated with anger when
he spoke
about the “ Labor hacks”.
