Western Australia’s tourism market picked up strongly in 2006 with an overall increase in visitors numbers and a combined spending surge of $5 billion breaking the all-time record.
The state’s buoyant economic conditions have resulted in increases in consumer spending, with low unemployment and rising personal incomes leading to strong consumer confidence.
The state government posted another record budget surplus in 2006-07, of $2.3 billion, fuelled by strong growth in mining royalties and taxation revenues.
The Western Australian grain industry had its worst season since the 2002-03 drought, with poor conditions in most parts of the state forcing harvest receivals down.
WA Business News’ third annual State Economic Review comes during a continuing period of prosperity for Western Australia, courtesy to a large extent of China’s accelerating economic growth.
The skills shortage continues to affect the Western Australian workforce, with an all-time low unemployment rate and strong wage growth recorded for the past year.
Navigating a business through Western Australia’s economic boom presents enormous challenges for business, according to several leading WA business executives.
Several Perth entrepreneurs are nervous about the impact a change of federal government next month could have on the Australian economy in three to five years’ time.
Lowering the expectations of first homebuyers is something that has to happen in a climate where the cost of property is climbing, according to AHS Hospitality managing director Stephen Lauder.
While Western Australia’s mining industry is well-represented on the list of the state’s top exporters, a number of manufacturing and technology companies are also creating significant export revenue.
Western Australian agribusiness exporters experienced mixed fortunes this season, with drought conditions putting pressure on the grains sector, while other sectors, such as meat, livestock and forestry experience a growth in revenues.
The ‘seachange’ phenomenon and unprecedented growth in recreational boat registrations in Western Australia are being met with increased marina development activity up and down the coast.
Western Australia’s residential property market has come off the boil, sending Perth’s median house price down to $446,500 in the June quarter, according to preliminary figures of the Real Estate Institute of WA.
Perth’s commercial office market has been a landlords’ dream during the past 12 months, prompting significant sales activity in the CBD and a few headaches for tenants.
In Western Australia’s turbo-charged economy, the property sector has been a standout performer, across the board – but the huge rises in values are not always good news.
When Coles CEO John Fletcher famously told the media that he had barely been in a supermarket for 25 years, it passed largely unnoticed that this could be a problem as he took the helm of Melbourne-based retailers Coles Myer Ltd, as it was then known.
An innovative takeover sweetener for Coles Group Ltd shareholders became all the more important last week when an independent expert’s report revealed Wesfarmers Ltd would effectively secure the retailer on the cheap.
Wesfarmers CEO Richard Goyder has great admiration for retailing executives such as Archie Norman, who was largely responsible for turning around the fortunes of UK supermarket group, Asda, before its sale to American retail giant Wal-Mart in 1999.
The state government and iron ore miners in the Mid-West are facing crunch time over the development of new railway and port infrastructure, which is needed if planned mines are to proceed.
The state’s two proposed biofuels projects, both slated for the Kwinana-Rockingham industrial area, are well into their advanced stages, with one due to commence construction later this year.
More than 850 megawatts of additional generation capacity for the South West Interconnected System is expected to come online by October 2008, with 3 major private energy projects currently under construction scheduled for completion within the next year.
The iron ore sector has been at the forefront of Western Australia’s resources boom and, while industry heavyweights Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton still dominate, new producers are gradually emerging.
