Special Report: Good times keep rolling

The Western Australian economy has gone through an exceptional phase of economic growth and development over the past four years, and has gained further momentum so far in 2006.

Western Australia has all the ingredients the rest of the world wants and is willing to pay for. This has been the recipe for the success of the state, which is showing up its counterparts in every domestic economic indicator from house prices to state

We all know that Australia is benefiting from another resources boom – the latest in a long history of export-orientated, resource-led growth spurts that we have experienced since the gold rush of the 1850s.

All the stars continue to be aligned in favour of the Western Australian economy, on the back of a fourth successive year of above 30-year average real global economic growth.

It has been a year of record-breaking results in the resources sector as economic powerhouses China and India fuel demand and world prices for the majority of commodities continue their upward trajectory.

Western Australia’s burgeoning economy shows no sign of abating, with business investment spurring on record levels of growth for 2006.

The impact of booming economic conditions and high commodity prices led to a stellar year for the state’s finances in 2005-06, with a record $2.26 billion operating surplus.

Western Australia’s strong economy has produced an extraordinary fall in the state’s unemployment rate to less than 4 per cent, a level many economists thought would never be reached.

Overwhelming interest in Western Australian property appears to have pushed the state’s median house price above $400,000 for the first time, and almost doubled the price of land in the year to June 2006.

It was a mixed year for Western Australia’s tourism industry, capped off by the release of the Tourism WA National Visitor Survey, which showed a drop in the number of domestic tourists but an increase in domestic tourist expenditure.

Western Australia recorded its second highest winter crop in 2005-06 at 14.4 million tonnes (mt), just trailing 2003-04 with 16.7mt.

Significant increases in net interstate and overseas migration have been the main contributors to the 1.9 per cent WA population increase in 2005-06.

Strong wages growth has outpaced the rise in Perth’s Consumer Price Index, which rose by 4.2 per cent through the year to the March quarter 2006, much higher than the national increase of 3 per cent.