Outperformer could be left behind

Having lived through the COVID-19 experience in the UK until my return to Perth in 2021, I didn’t expect to still be fielding questions about how to live with the virus, personally and professionally.

Yet as COVID-19 only now begins its inevitable creep into Western Australia, there is a delayed reckoning of how to manage the disruption it will cause.

Now, with high vaccination rates and a clearer understanding of the virus’s characteristics and impact on health, we’re in a completely different environment to the pandemic’s early days.

We had no immunity when COVID-19 emerged in the Northern Hemisphere, and in the very early days we had no appreciation of the virus’s trajectory and what its impact across all facets of society would be.

However, with what we now know I’d expect people’s behaviour will change by self-selecting (rather than being mandated) to see fewer people and to be more cautious about spending time in higher-risk environments.

In the UK’s recent summer, despite high vaccinations, returned freedoms and low case numbers, individuals were gathering with far fewer people than pre-pandemic times.

For most readers, you are of course, home. For many, the real anxiety from 2020 was not the concern about catching COVID-19, but the stress of getting back to Australia.

The likelihood of a successful return changed based on sporadic changes to arrival numbers, overbooked flights, last-minute passenger bumping, and entire route cancellations.

I will never forget the sense of dread of our London flat being packed up and giving notice to our landlord, without knowing if we would be able to depart London five days later.

I was incredibly lucky to have a leader whose career was built on the need to be calm in a crisis. As a trade and investment manager for the WA government, my day-to-day role relied on building networks and gathering market intelligence.

In a digital-only environment, this was incredibly challenging for building new clients and opportunities.

In my role, I was proud to say that WA’s economy was among the few in the world that delivered a budget surplus in 2020, testament to the government’s COVID-19 response and the resilience and the performance of the resources sector.

When reminded of Perth’s relative geographical isolation, I would retort that there was nothing like the necessity of self-reliance to drive innovation, and remind the accuser that Perth shared the same time zone with 60 per cent of the globe’s population.

Such performance in the face of global adversity was a significant attraction, with individuals and companies lining up to enter the state when borders reopened.

The same cannot be said now, as those same borders remain closed.

The Australian High Commissioner to the UK will be hosting a reception for all the state agents general this month, with three of the five, including that from WA, being new arrivals.

With all other states being able to point to having opened, WA will be a clear outlier.

The message of a strong economy and keeping COVID-19 at bay no longer resonates, and it’s completely removed from the experience of people looking for new opportunities.

There’s a distinct network system in generating investment leads; part personal relationship, part referrals built on a path of least resistance to achieving KPIs.

People naturally gravitate to ease and clarity, which WA is sorely lacking.

Everyone understands WA’s energy and resources strengths (although the spectre of skill shortages and rising wages are biting); the greater risk is attracting investment in highly competitive areas such as health and medical technology, space industries and international education, where WA doesn’t have a natural advantage.

Just as we are thinking about when we can again venture east to the rest of Australia, we need to plan for our reconnection to the world.

The government’s Diversify WA economic development blueprint will need a complete overhaul with fresh ideas and arguments for why we are the best place in the world to invest and live.

The delayed reconnection to Asia should go further into the Middle East, Europe and the US, with key members of cabinet deployed in support.

The government’s Invest and Trade WA website promotes “our openness to the world” as being central to our global reputation and outstanding performance.

Significant changes and a concerted campaign need to be launched to ensure this holds true and avoid a WA variety of long COVID.

Joe Doleschal-Ridnell is director at JDR Advisers, where he works with clients in mining, energy and industry