Resource-rich and export-oriented, Western Australia is a world-class supplier of goods and services.

	Area:	2,529,880 sq km
	Population:	1,909,800
	as % of total:	9.8%
	Capital:	Perth (population 1.4m)
	Gross State Product:	A$68.09bn (2000/2001)
	as % of total:	10.6%
	State Final Demand:	A$61.39bn
	SFD growth:	6.7% (2001)
	Credit rating (S&P):	AAA
	Average weekly earnings:	A$638.20 (08/2001)
	Unemployment rate:	6.5%

Ten times the size of the United Kingdom, Western Australia covers almost a third of Australia and is a major growth centre for the nation. At the forefront of industrial investment, Western Australia leads the nation in exports, and has been the fastest-growing state over the past decade (6.7% in 2001). Such strengths attract about 15% of all new private capital investment in Australia.

Western Australia’s economy has undergone significant changes in recent years, gearing it towards a widely diversified and internationalised economy closely linked to global markets. While the state is increasingly characterised as a world-class supplier of manufactured goods and traded services, its greatest strength is its wealth of natural resources. Western Australia’s resources industries have grown in sophistication in recent years, resulting in the development of necessary infrastructure and service industries to support them. These new industries have taken on world-class dimensions, leading to a growing demand for a highly skilled and educated workforce, which is being met by an education sector with an international capability.

The export state
Western Australia is Australia’s leading export state. In recent years it has accounted for 25% of Australia’s world sales, an impressive achievement from a state with only a tenth of Australia’s population. Western Australian exports have grown at an annual average of 11% and account for about a third of the state’s total output.

The strong resources sector has itself built on Western Australia’s ideal location as a quality source of goods and services. The state has long provided a favoured location for investment to support its growth. Similarly, Western Australia has attracted skilled people over the years to strengthen its workforce and build its population.

The state’s exports of manufactured goods and services range from ferries to smart cards, and from pharmaceuticals to construction skills. Much of the impetus for these industries has come from overseas interest, and the Western Australian Government welcomes inward investment, operating 10 offices in key international economic centres around the world.

Western Australia accounts for more than 30% of Australian private investment projects currently committed or being considered. This investment is expected to reach A$45bn in the next four years. Recent coups include the following projects.

• • Shipbuilder Austal has secured an A$50m contract to build two 69-metre boutique cruise ships for a French Polynesian operation.
  
• Arbortech (the team behind the hovercrafts seen at Stadium Australia during the Sydney 2000 Olympics) have developed the Allsaw, which can slice through brick in a couple of seconds, but will not cut the skin. Allsaw is already in demand in Europe and the US, and Arbortech has signed a deal with Swedish construction tool distributor Atlas Copco.
  
• The United Nations Environment Program will invest A$1.2m to set up its Asia-Pacific Environmental Technology Centre in Western Australia. On top of the funds from the UN, the state government will provide A$600,000 and Murdoch University a further A$150,000.
  
• A new A$100m project will boost Western Australia’s salt production capacity to about 13m tonnes a year. Last year Western Australia produced close to 8m tonnes of salt, or about 5% of world supply and more than 30% of the world’s traded salt. The main market for the state’s salt is Asia.
  
• A Western Australian shipbuilding firm has won a A$300m contract to build 16 search-and-rescue vessels for the Philippine Coast Guard.

Perfect position
Western Australia’s geographic position is vital to its success. It is the closest Australian state to the Indian Ocean region, which includes South Asia, the Middle East and Africa, housing more than one-third of the world’s population and accounting for 10% of world trade. The state shares the same or adjacent time zones with Singapore, Manila, Hong Kong, Beijing and Seoul.
To that can be added a stable government and legal system, and one of the world’s most sophisticated and efficient telecommunications systems.

The Western Australian Government strongly supports innovation through the development of leading edge solutions in information technology, mining and energy, new media, biotechnology and environmental science. A Science and Technology Policy promotes private sector investment in research and new technologies. Continual development is occurring in areas such as mineral detection and processing, marine engineering, advanced engine technologies and communications systems.

Areas of expertise
ICT. More than 500 companies are represented in a vibrant information and communications technology sector. A wide range of expertise supplies new developments in software, consultancy services and advanced components to local, national and international clients.Export successes include high-security banking products, telecommunications equipment, energy control systems, mapping and financial management software. One example is Perth-based Digital Technology International, which has developed a ‘black box’ mobile digital recorder to improve bus and train security. With eight digital camera inputs, audio and global positioning, the system has already achieved contracts for buses in Perth and Amsterdam.

Mining services and environmental control. The state’s own need to support its massive resources sector has promoted specialisation in mine management and surveying software, remote sensing, process control systems and remote communications. It has also spawned a thriving environmental products and services sector, attacking problems such as air and water pollution and land degradation – the state now offers world-leading solutions in waste water treatment, recycling, air quality control, solid waste management and land rehabilitation.

Marine industry. Western Australia has the largest marine industry in Australia, accounting for half of the country’s total production of luxury motor yachts, fishing and Paramilitary vessels. It already builds about 40% of the world’s lightweight high-speed passenger/car ferries. Cockburn Sound, just south of Fremantle, is already Australia’s largest commercial shipbuilding centre and Western Australia has adopted additional major initiatives to make it one of the most cost-effective shipbuilders in the world. With half the Australian Naval Surface Fleet and its entire submarine force to be home ported at Garden Island on Cockburn Sound, the state has a major opportunity to develop its contribution to Australia’s defence capability.

Oil and gas. Western Australia’s internationally-recognised oil and gas industry is the leading petroleum producer in Australia. There are billions of dollars in resource and infrastructure projects currently under construction or being considered.

Natural resources. Fishery, agricultural and forestry production is worth more than A$4bn each year, while 80% of all primary produce is exported.

Other areas. The state also has major abilities in the aviation industry, commercial business services, education and health and medical services. Perth is home base for the new Global Health Alliance, an initiative of four Western Australian universities to undertake aid-funded health projects around the world. The picturesque town of Manjimup is set to become the centre of a A$25m ginkgo industry, with Natural Medicines of Australia aiming to produce high-quality natural medicine extracts for a booming international market.

Infrastructure
Western Australia has extensive freight handling capacity by air, road, rail and sea. Fourteen seaports, including the major port of Fremantle near Perth, export almost 160m tonnes of cargo each year. More than 170m tonnes of freight are carried on Western Australia’s 17,000km of toll-free roads each year, with more than 9000 trucks travelling from the eastern states to Perth each year (enticing backloading rates are a cost-effective method of accessing the whole of Australia). Rail transports another 200m tonnes of freight annually.

Perth’s international and domestic airports handle 4m passengers and 38,000 tonnes of cargo each year. More than 1150 regular flights operate through the airports each week.

As far as business costs go, land, offices, warehouses and factories are highly competitive with other Australian and Asian locations. Energy, water and sewerage services are also high in quality and low in price, along with electricity and natural gas.

During the past decade the rate of inflation in Western Australia has been consistently lower than the average for OECD countries and generally below the Australian measurement.

As far as lifestyle is concerned, Australia’s largest state offers a serene and easygoing way of life, with the space to enjoy its clean, green and majestic landscapes, and extensive leisure facilities. In a recent cost-of-living comparison conducted between Perth, Sydney and Singapore, Perth performed best in everything from comparable housing and accommodation to health care and school fees. Add this to the state’s clear blue skies, clean fresh air, white-sand beaches and Mediterranean-style climate, and Western Australia offers investors a powerful combination of world-class resources, skills, infrastructure and lifestyle.

Websites:
Business and Investment Gateway
www.big.wa.gov.au

Department of Industry & Technology
www.commerce.indtech.wa.gov.au

Government of Western Australia:
www.wa.gov.au