Western Australia prepares for new growth era
Western Australia prepares for new growth era
With resource and infrastructure projects worth more than
US$18 billion on the drawing boards, Western Australia is set to
be the center of the biggest investment surge in Australia's
history.
The increase in investment enhances the opportunities to
develop even closer business relationships between resource-rich
Western Australia and the rapidly-expanding economy of Indonesia.
The investment covers many industries, including oil and gas
and mineral development, as well as the downstream processing of
the states abundant mineral wealth.
A good example is the new Direct Reduced Iron (DRI) briquette
plant being built by BHP in Port Hedland and a $240 million
expansion of the state's largest titanium dioxide plant located
south of Perth, the state's capital.
Foundations for the ongoing expansion of Western Australia's
economy are being laid with work going ahead on a new $560
million coal-fired power station, as well as a new $360 million
gas pipeline that has just been completed. The pipeline will
deliver cheap, efficient and environmentally-safe energy from the
northwest of the state to the mineral-rich Goldfield's region
near Kalgoorlie.
Western Australia's wealth of natural resources will continue
to provide opportunities for economic growth (currently 5 percent
per year) well into the future.
This growth is not only in the mining area but also in
agriculture, which is the state's second-largest export industry.
Wheat, wool, beef, lamb and seafood (lobsters and prawns), as
well as a wide range of fruit and vegetables, cereals (such as
lupines, barley, oats and canola) are also exported.
There are increasing opportunities for the downstream
processing of foodstuffs. Industries that are already established
include plants producing noodles, fruit juices, small goods, a
wide range of dairy products and some of the finest wines
produced in Australia.
The manufacturing industry is also undergoing rapid
development, with exports now accounting for $1.1 billion per
year. Western Australia is the center for shipbuilding with
companies producing a wide range of high-speed ferries and other
craft which are being exported all over the world.
Research and development activities by local and international
companies have produced internationally competitive innovations
in engine technology, alternative and renewable energy,
biotechnology, building products and electronics.
Geographically, Western Australia is the largest state in
Australia, accounting for 2,252,500 square kilometers, or close
to 33 percent of the continent's landmass. It has a population of
1.7 million people, 1.2 million of which live in Perth. Western
Australia's total exports for 1994/1995 was $13.2 billion or 26
percent of Australia's total exports.
Perth is only 3.5 hours by air from Jakarta and Western
Australia has developed a close economic relationship with
Indonesia.
In order to enhance the growing commercial and cultural
relationship between Australia and Indonesia, Western Australia
signed a sister state/province Memorandum of Understanding in
1990, which was re-signed in 1995 by the premier of Western
Australia and the governor of East Java.
In order to enhance this special relationship, the Western
Australian government established its regional trade office in
Surabaya in 1992.
The Western Australian Trade Office offers a wide range of
services to Indonesian businesspeople to assist the ongoing
development of the strong business relationship that exists. It
also plays an active role in the various programs that have been
developed under the sister state/province agreement. By
establishing a trade office, it stresses the importance the
government of Western Australia places in the relationship with
East Java and Indonesia as a whole.
To emphasize the point, trade between Indonesia and Western
Australia continues to flourish.
Currently, exports to Indonesia from Western Australia are
$504 million (1994/1995) comprising mainly of crude petroleum
products, live cattle, titanium dioxide, wheat and a range of
mineral and manufactured products. Imports from Indonesia for the
same period were $126 million (an 80 percent increase) and
comprised of petroleum, paper products, furniture and a range of
manufactured goods.
The continued expansion in the number of businesspeople and
tourists visiting Indonesia and Western Australia has resulted in
the steady increase of air services. Currently, there are nine
flights per week between Perth and Jakarta, 15 flights between
Perth and Denpasar plus a weekly service from Broome in the
northwest to Denpasar.
The increase in the number of air services runs parallel to
the increasing number of shipping lines now offering services
between Fremantle and Indonesia's major ports.
The foundations for the ongoing development of the
relationship between Western Australia and Indonesia are firmly
in place. There is no better time for the business communities to
take advantage of the current environment.