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EcoLarge appear as expert witness
Jul 30th
Economists at Large was called by the local community group, Save Bastion Point, to present as an expert witness in the inquiry into the open access boat ramp at Mallacoota in eastern Victoria. Economists at Large presented their findings as contained in the expert witness report on our reports page.
More info at:
http://www.ecolarge.com/reports
Tongan Whale Watching Report released today
Jun 16th
A report on the economic valuation of the Tongan whale watching industry was released today in the South Pacific country.
The EcoLarge report for IFAW found that the industry provides an annual boost of just under US$2 million to the small island nation, and has grown at an average of 20% per year since 1998.
The final report can be found in our Reports section.
Press coverage can be seen at the following links:
http://www.pacificmagazine.net/news/2008/06/14/study-urges-protection-for-whales-in-tonga
http://www.islandsbusiness.com/news/index_dynamic/containerNameToReplace=MiddleMiddle/focusModuleID=130/focusContentID=12510/tableName=mediaRelease/overideSkinName=newsArticle-full.tpl
Victorian Auditor General to audit Channel Deepening Project.
Jun 9th
In June 2008, the Victorian Auditor Generals office commenced a report on the channel deepening project. The report will assess the key aspects of the project’s development, including the economic and business case and the accountability and management of the project. The analysis of the project carried out by Economists at Large (see our reports page) will be provided to assistant this process.
A final report is due out in June, 2009.
Details can be found at:
http://www.audit.vic.gov.au/audits_in_progress/audits_in_progress.aspx
Inquiry into Channel Deepening begins
Jun 3rd
The Australian Financial Review quoted from an EcoLarge submission in today’s paper, reporting that the net present value of the project is certainly lower than presented in the supplementary environmental effects statement and is likley to be negative.
See our analysis and submission to this inquiry on the Reports page.
Pacific Whale Watching Report Launched in New Zealand
Apr 3rd
A report conducted for IFAW in was launched in Auckland by a former NZ Minister. The report finds strong growth in whale watching across the Pacific Islands region, with an estimated economic value of US$ 21 million.
You can view the report on our Reports page.
See an article in the New Zealand Herald via this link:
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/1/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10501706
Hello world!
Mar 11th
Welcome to WordPress. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, then start blogging!
Channel Deepening Under Review Again
Feb 28th
Taken from The Age, 28 Feb 2008
DREDGING in Port Phillip Bay ill come under fresh scrutiny after State Parliament resolved to examine the economic case for the $1 billion project.
Responding to growing concerns that the benefits of the project may be overstated or waning, the upper house last night moved for a powerful Opposition-controlled finance committee to examine the Port of Melbourne’s business case for channel deepening.
The motion, by Greens MP Sue Pennicuik, means senior Port and Government officials could be forced to attend hearings, and contracts between the Port and Royal Boskalis West minster – the Dutch company – entrusted with dredging the bay – would face public examination by the parliamentary Standing Committee on Finance and Public Administration. Ms Pennicuik said there was an increasing need for a full investigation of the economic benefits of the project, which is estimated by the Port to cost $969 million.
“The cost of dredging has more than quadrupled since it I was first announced, and is likely to blow out to over one billion before long,” she said. ”Hopefully this inquiry will be able to uncover once and for all what the full costs are… every time the cost increases, the benefit decreases.”
An economic analysis published by the Port of Melbourne and PriceWaterhouseCoopers last March found the benefits of the channel deepening project would outweigh the costs by a ratio of 3.3 to 1. But concerns have since emerged that costs were spiralling as a result of delays in starting the project.
A recent study by the Economists At Large group – sponsored by the Australian Conservation Foundation – suggested the economic case for dredging had waned significantly, while National Institute of Economic and Industry Research director Peter Brain also warned that the benefits of the project were now slimmer than when the project was first mooted.
Ms Pennicuik’s motion required support from lone DLP member Peter Kavanagh, as well as the new coalition of Liberals and the National Party, who have been long-time supporters of the dredging project. It was the second time yesterday the non-government parties in the chamber had combined to defeat Labor on a dredging issue.
Earlier, the upper house moved a bill – originally floated by Opposition Leader Ted Baillieu as a private member’s bill – which sought to increase the transparency of environmental monitoring across the dredging project.
The bill called for all monitoring to be published daily on the internet within 24 hours of receipt by the Port of Melbourne, and would make it easier to halt dredging immediately in the case of environmental concerns.
But the bill is unlikely to have any effect, as it must be approved by the Government-dominated lower house before having any impact.
The Age reports on EcoLarge criticism of Channel Deepening Project
Feb 19th
The Bay Channel Deepening project should be delayed until it becomes commercially viable. Our recent analysis has updated the figures for the project, based on information that the capital cost estimates continue to blow out. Economists at Large were quoted in The Age today saying the the project is not commercially viable and should be parked.
The article can be found at:
Our analysis can be found in the Reports section of this website.
EcoLarge undertakes project for the Federal Government
Nov 14th
The Federal Department of Environment and Water Resources has recently commissioned EcoLarge to assess the current growth of the whale watching industry in the Gold Coast, and offer policy recommendations on its future management.
The final report is expected to be released prior to Christmas this year.
EcoLarge in The Australian
Aug 28th
Mill may cost state jobs and $3.3bn
Matthew Denholm | August 23, 2007
THE Gunns pulp mill could destroy more jobs and wealth than it creates, a new economic analysis of the project suggests.
A report by local and national economists, prepared for a Tasmanian business roundtable and released last night, suggests the $2billion mill could cause a net economic loss to the state.
A group of businesses in the Tamar Valley, angered at the Tasmanian Government’s refusal to conduct a cost benefit study or risk analysis of the controversial project, commissioned their own.
Conducted by Wells Economic Analysis, headed by University of Tasmania economist Graeme Wells, and the Melbourne-based Economist@Large, it was presented to members of the state’s upper house last night.
Gunns’s analysis, conducted by Monash University, predicts the project will add $6.7billion, or 2.5per cent, to the Tasmanian economy and an additional $894million in extra tax revenue between 2008-2030.
Gunns projects 284 permanent jobs when the mill is operating and almost 700 direct jobs on average during construction.
The new report says Gunns has double-counted the tax benefits and failed to show $847.3million in subsidies to the project.
‘The proponents have only provided a benefit analysis to the Tasmanian economy — they have not factored in risks and costs,” it concludes.
It says these include the risk air emissions of fine particulates from the mill will add to local air pollution, exposing the local population to the danger of increased respiratory disease. It quantifies the extra cost to the health system at $350million.
The report estimates the cost to the economy of converting additional agricultural land to plantations to feed the mill with woodchips, including lost farming output, to be $403million.
Risks to the fishing industry from the mill’s daily release of 64,000tonnes of effluent into Bass Strait was quantified.
“As a medium risk scenario (it) could cost the industry $693.5million and 700 job losses over the (30-year) life of the project,” the report concludes.
Based on a survey of tourist businesses by the Tasmanian Tourism Industry Council, the economists said a medium-risk scenario of lost business resulting from the mill shows a loss of $1.1billion and 1044 jobs over 30 years. This was based on 34per cent of tourism businesses saying the mill would directly and negatively impact on their trade, and 58per cent saying Tasmania’s “clean, green” image would be damaged by the project.
The report found that the project could end up being a $3.3billion drain: “On a range of realistic scenarios, the pulp mill project may cause an economic loss to the state.”