The Interview
THE PROPERTY DEVELOPMENT REVIEW
SCAN OR CLICK TO WATCH TO THE INTERVIEW IN FULL
50 MINUTES
PATRICK ALLAWAY
CHAIRMAN - BANK OF QUEENSLAND
currently embroiling the economies of some of the major northern hemisphere powers. “We’ve had really strong growth coming out of COVID. Really good unemployment... [and] we’ve got good investment in infrastructure and construction going on across the economy.” That doesn’t mean he’s ignoring some of the issues that are causing problems. “There are concerns. Asset prices are high. We’ve got very high leverage in the economy.” But ultimately, his assessment is a confident and measured one. “My sense is that we will show a lot more resilience in trading through this [period].”
Despite interest rate hikes, Australia’s economy is proving resilient “If you compare the Australian economy to Europe and the US at the moment, we’re in pretty good shape.” Despite labour chain shortages and inflation, Allaway doesn’t view the financial health of the country in a particularly negative light. In fact, he’s optimistic about our current trajectory. “[Australia’s] inflation rate is probably half of what we’re seeing in Europe and the US.” And given his evaluation of Australia’s unemployment rate and infrastructure sector, Allaway is of the belief that the country has the right qualities to avoid a lot of the pitfalls
June / July 2022 – 13
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