Industry report names growth 'hotspots'

Clean energy, aged care and disaster management are among the sectors highlighted as potential growth areas in the Western Australian economy in a new report by Deloitte.

With the resources investment boom slowing, Deloitte identified 25 "hotspots" with the potential to lift the nation's economic growth over the next 20 years.

Gas, agribusiness, international education, tourism and wealth management are tipped as the five "super growth sectors" that will represent the next wave of economic growth, complementing the still-dominant mining sector.

These are joined by a further 19 growth pockets, identified as low-risk areas where the state can build on its existing strengths rather than developing new industries from scratch.

They include food processing, medical research, preventative health and wellness and private schooling.

Asia's demand for clean energy is expected to have positive flow-on effects for a number of sectors within the WA economy, including gas transport and infrastructure, clean coal, next-generation solar and nuclear energy.

Even the state's abundance of ocean resources is seen as having the potential to fuel economic development, with opportunities in wave energy and algae-based "green oil".

"We all know Western Australia is huge, yet what many don't realise that we're even bigger than we think we are - Australia's Exclusive Economic Zone is the world's third largest, and those rights over ocean resources will eventually prove vital to this state's development," Deloitte WA managing partner Michael McNulty said.

"With more coastline than India, our access to both tropical waters and the Southern Ocean puts us in a unique position to take advantage of new technologies that will open up new potential in ocean resources."

Deloitte Access Economics partner Matt Judkins said it was important for WA to move away from the "sugar hit" of resources construction and look to sectors that would drive sustainable future growth.