The Mid West has the limelight and it’s not afraid to use it to help develop a diverse economy in the region.
If there’s one lesson to learn in the Mid West, it’s that the region is not pinning its hopes on the Oakajee port and rail project.
While a strong mining industry and burgeoning iron ore tenements have led to the Mid West being chosen to host the multi-billion dollar deepwater port and heavy rail line, the region certainly is not resting on its laurels.
It has plugged away at developing a diverse economy in the background of the port noise.
Its fishing and agriculture sector is historically strong, the region has a new technological focus with the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) radio wave telescope project, and it displays the potential for production of all sources of renewable energy.
Add to that the region’s push to market Geraldton as a destination rather than drive-though tourism town and a real estate market that is preparing for a potential doubling of the population in the next five years and the region’s buzz becomes pretty obvious.
“It is not that we want to downplay Oakajee, it is clearly an important part of our future, it unleashes the next wave of inland development, but the growth is happening anyway,” City of Geraldton-Greenough chief executive Tony Brun said.
Humphrey Land Developments chief executive Barry Humphrey agreed and said the investment in region – which the state government says nearly touched $3 billion last year – showed no sign of slowing down, despite recent delays in the port project.
“There is a good story for Geraldton to be told without talking about Oakajee,” he said.
Political persuasion
Mr Brun said the Mid West was the land of opportunity and, with the added political spotlight on the region thanks to Oakajee and SKA stirring the state and federal governments’ interests in the area, the time to pounce was now.
“It is not like we have to create an artificial interest for them. They are already here and very active,” Mr Brun said.
Added to that is the regionalised focus of the state government with its Royalties for Regions scheme and the National Broadband Network limelight currently on Geraldton, with the city having been named one of the first five roll-out points in the country.
“We are at a unique time now … we are in a new environment with the state government with their investment in the regions and federally you have a minority government held together by regional independents, so they’ve changed the whole way of government to address regional issues nationally,” he said.
At a local level, the councils are in the process of amalgamating; Greenough and Geraldton councils joined forces last year and it was recently announced the Shire of Mullewa would join them to form the City of Greater Geraldton later this year.
Mr Brun said the amalgamation had led to greater capacity within the council to support the region in its tourism ventures and bids for projects, which would help in the City’s endeavours.
“The spotlights not on you for long and you have to get every ounce of benefit while it’s on you because something else will come up, another city or another area will get the focus,” he said.
Challenges
With a land of opportunity comes the need to plan, and the government bodies and decision makers in Geraldton are not about to make brazen moves that will lead to unsustainable development in the city.
Mid West Development Commission chief executive Steve Douglas said the biggest challenge for Geraldton and the Mid West was to get key stakeholders working together towards a common goal to collectively grasp the opportunities presented.
Above all, sustainable development is the goal.
“The bigger and faster your growth, the greater the potential for a bit of a bubble burst. Geraldton has been through one of those before 10 years ago, so we are conscious and mindful of that,” Mr Douglas said, referring to the effect the failure of the KingStream iron ore project had on the city.
Mr Brun agreed and was equally passionate about sustainability and expressed caution when it came to focusing too much on the resources sector.
“Our issue is turning opportunity into reality, that is our biggest challenge,” he said.
“A bit like we have the political spotlight, we have got the resources focus. At some point that will fade, there is only so much you can dig out, and you have to look at what is happening in the Pilbara where you get too dominated by one sector and you ride the waves up and down with the boom prices.
“We would like to see a transition so that we use the wealth of the current resources sector to underpin our economy to become a more diverse one, so that if and when we start to see the resources sector dwindle away, we have actually got a completely different economy.”
Mr Humphrey said the biggest challenge to the region was power supply and Western Power’s planned upgrade of Geraldton’s existing 132kv transmission line to a 330kv line cannot come soon enough.
The line is the second stage in the Mid West power project, of which the first stage goes to Three Springs.
“If they don’t build this 330kv line, they will miss out on a massive opportunity,” Mr Humphrey said.
The issue was also highlighted by Mid West Chamber of Commerce and Industry chief executive Bill Headley, who said delaying the line would affect not only Oakajee but also the region’s renewable energy sector.
“Until that power line happens there is $950 million worth of solar or wind power waiting to start and solar projects waiting to get online,” he said.
Taking advantage
When you take a closer look at the plans being made by organisations like the Mid West Development Commission (MWDC), it becomes evident the planning is not just lip service.
The region’s development commission has been pursuing a ‘smart’ policy for 10 years that is pushing the development of diverse industries that take advantage of the region’s natural offerings and contribute to its sustainability.
Through the Royalties for Regions scheme the MWDC has contributed funds to new projects of this vein such as the Marine Fish Farmers Association’s yellowtail kingfish aquaculture project off the coast of Geraldton – which delivered its first fish to market in March.
“This (smart policy) focuses on attracting research and development and innovative institutions and facilities in the region to try and further develop our educational sector,” Mr Douglas said.
Developing the region’s renewable energy sector was a large part of that plan; Mr Douglas said maintaining the liveability of Geraldton and its surrounds was important.
“The vision is in five or so year’s time that we have been able to capture a number of significant opportunities from the resources sector and other major projects … which have enabled Geraldton and other communities to grow their populations in a sustainable way,” he said.
Developing the educational sector to be in line with the development of the region’s renewable energy sources is also a key priority of Mr Brun.
He hopes to focus on establishing post-graduate research facilities and attracting PhD and masters students.
“We know renewable energy is a common theme around Australia but where we do everyone in, is there are effectively 5 sources of renewable energy; wave, wind, geothermal, solar or biomass and we are the only place in Australia you can do all five,” Mr Brun said.
“That is a unique strategic advantage, and we have been pushing the unis to base their research here so they can do comprehensive research into all of them.”
Meeting the need
In the past 10 years the Mid West’s population has grown by 30 per cent and hovered at just fewer than 55,000 in 2009 with 38,000 of those in Geraldton.
That number would get a significant boost if the Oakajee project gets off the ground, with pre-work construction of OPR touted to start later this year following a recent six-month extension from the state government for the company’s delivery of its bankable feasibility study.
At the peak of its construction phase 2500 workers would be required for the project, with 250 workers needed to operate the rail and port once complete, the date for which is mooted as 2014-15.
The number of people required at the numerous mine sites in the region is sizable too.
The Geraldton Iron Ore Alliance is a voluntary group that promotes the development of iron ore mining in the region. It has estimated, that between the alliance members alone, the number of jobs in project construction is set to peak at 7,950.
Its five members are some of the major miners in the area, including Asia Iron (Extension Hill), Crosslands Resources (Jack Hills expansion project), Gindalbie Metals (Karara), Golden West Resources (Wiluna West) and Sinosteel (Koolanoonka, Blue Hills, Weld Range and Jack Hills).
The alliance’s chief executive, Rob Jeffries, said between the projects, operational jobs would hit 4000 in 2016 and would exceed 6,000 from 2024 onwards.
He said the long-term sustainability of those positions was increased because the tenements were largely magnetite iron ore, which requires almost double the amount of processing than hematite.
“If people understand that, then they start to understand the potential the industry can deliver,” he said.
Mr Jeffries said a large component of workers required during the phase will be fly-in fly-out from Geraldton or Perth, purely because of the level of skill required being held by only a select few contracting companies in WA.
He said there was still a focus on local contractors; a Mid West procurement officer had been financed by alliance companies and would be based at the Mid West CCI to help medium to small contractors take advantage of the opportunities in the region.
Mr Headley said he understood that fly-in fly-out arrangements were largely required for construction phases, but he hoped the region would use the project needs to increase the population.
“I would like to think we are an attractive proposition for people to relocate to for the longer term,” he said.
Mr Douglas agreed and said it was a focus of the development commission to develop the required social infrastructure in Mid West towns to make long-term living attractive.
“We want to retain our enviable lifestyle and at the same time we want to plan to make sure our communities have the appropriate level of social infrastructure to both deal with major change as well as capture local and regional benefits,” he said.
The commission has recently held meetings in the Mid West’s three sub-regions to discuss the required social infrastructure in the areas and has made 100 projects a priority. It now aims to attract public and private investment in the development of the communities.
Mr Humphrey said while the property market had remained relatively flat since the resources super profits tax was announced last year he expected things to lift with the onset of population growth.
“Inevitably, as long as day follows night, this market will turn,” he said.
Mr Humphrey has been actively pursuing diverse developments in Geraldton and the Mid West to cater for the increasingly diverse demographics of the region.
Aside from developments like its Seacrest estate, Humphrey Land Developments is pushing for mixed-use residential, commercial and retail developments in town such as its 601 Marine Terrace development.
