Resource-rich and export-savvy, the largest state in Australia has growing strengths in advanced manufacturing, services and knowledge-based research. Its capital, Perth, is closer to Singapore than to Sydney, underlining the state’s strategic position on the doorstep of the Asia Pacific. Area: 2,529,880 sq km Population: 1,929,300 (9.7%) Capital: Perth (pop. 1.4m) State Final Demand: A$69.91bn* SFD growth: 8.2% Gross State Product: A$77.50bn‡ Credit rating (S&P): AAA Employment growth: 2.25% Average weekly earnings: A$683.20 (11/02) Unemployment rate: 5.7% (03/03) Inflation: 2.8%* *=2002, ‡=2001/2. Source: ABS.

Western Australia

Export Leader

Western Australia has been Australia’s leading export state for the past 10 years. Home to 10% of the country’s population, it accounts for about 25% of the country’s exports, led by its vast resource wealth, but with increasing trade in sophisticated manufactures and globally-traded services.

Covering about one-third of the Australian continent (or seven times the size of Germany), Western Australia is home to a massive resources and energy sector worth A$17bn a year, with more than 200 major re-source projects currently in operation or under construction. The state has more than 60% of Australia’s considerable gas resources, producing about half of the nation’s oil and condensate. It is also the source of a large share of world trade in liquefied natural gas, gold, diamonds, mineral sands, alumina, iron ore and nickel.

A recent analysis of the state’s turnover in various sectors, however, shows key manufacturing growth areas in printing, publishing and recorded media, machinery and equipment, and non-metallic mineral products. R&D expenditure is cited as the vital driver of growth.

The state also has major abilities in the aviation industry, commercial business services, education, and health and medical services. The outward orientation of companies in Western Australia has secured world markets for quality exports ranging from fast ferries to smart cards, from software to pharmaceuticals, and from engineering services to prime beef and premium wine.

Shipbuilding
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. Western Australian shipbuilder Austal Ltd has, for example, added to its group order book with a new A$13m contract to build two new cruise vessels for use on Hong Kong’s harbour – Austal subsidiary Image Marine will build the 41-metre catamarans, each capable of carrying 351 passengers. The development of the Australian Marine Complex, a A$200m development at Cockburn Sound south of Perth, provides a solid base for the industry’s further expansion.

ICT
The information and communications technology industry in Western Australia employs about 13,000 people, has an annual turnover of US$1bn and, in the past three years, has seen an additional US$1bn put into capital investment and infrastructure. This industry is growing at six times the rate of WA’s economy as a whole. The state’s superior pool of skilled and creative computer literate researchers, engineers and technicians led IBM to choose Western Australia as the site for its first Corporate Research Centre outside the United States.

Western Australian research has led to a global impact in internationally-competitive high-tech products, including smart cards, mapping and design, radio and broadband communication, imaging, remote sensing, spatial data systems, process controlling, online share trading, creative interactive content, and supply servicing.

Technology precinct
The successful Technology Park at Bentley in Perth has gained an international reputation for innovation. A focal point for interaction between more than 70 local tech-based firms, research organisations and universities, the Park employs about 1700 people, around 30% of them engaged in R&D activities. The majority of the resident organisations export their products and services.

The Park is now evolving into a wider area known as the Technology Precinct, bringing together surrounding research organisations, such as Curtin University, with government agencies including the Departments of Agriculture and Conservation and Land Management, Technical and Further Education (TAFE), plus private sector companies and secondary institutions which are involved in technology-related activities.

Agrifood
Agricultural and fisheries production in Western Australia is worth A$5bn annually. The state exports cereals, meat and animals, fish, pulses and oil seeds, horticulture, dairy and many other products, benefiting from its status as one of the most pest and disease-free agricultural production areas in the world.

In one recent export success, Western Australia’s Challenge Dairy Cooperative has announced plans to supply fresh milk worth A$5m to Singapore’s F&N Foods in 2003, after beginning exports in May 2002. Further markets in South-East Asia may follow – it is worth remembering that Perth is as close to Singapore as it is to Sydney. There are also new possibilities of expanding agrifood exports to Europe through airfreight to the shipping hubs of Singapore, and then seafreighting on to Europe, substantially cutting existing shipping schedules.

For more information contact:
Websites: www.big.wa.gov.au
www.doir.wa.gov.au/wabic/rugby