Shire of Roebourne Local Planning Strategy

Shire of Roebourne Local Planning StrategyTechnical Report A1: Economic Development StrategyLGA Relative Strengths: Technological ReadinessBroadband connections: % Households andbusinesses with broadband internetWorkers in ICT and electronics: % employed as ICTand electronics specialistsInternet connection: % of households with internetconnectionBusinesses in technology and related industries: % ofworkforce employed by technology related…East PilbaraAshburtonPort HedlandRoebourne Shire-1 -0.75 -0.5 -0.25 0 0.25 0.5 0.75 1Relative StrengthOverall:There is coming to be good access to high speed broadband in most parts of the region andparticularly in the main settlements. This is not a barrier to growth. There is no particularexpertise amongst the business community for technology related industries.At the LGA level, the Shire of Roebourne has the highest relative proportion of workers inICT occupations than other Pilbara shires, except for the much smaller Shire of East Pilbara.4.7 Business sophisticationCompetitiveness IndexElementQuality of region’s overallbusiness networksDominance of largeemployers - number of largefirms in the region.Pilbara SituationSmall business networks and local chambers of commerce existand can be expanded.Economy is dominated by a very small number of very largeemployers Exports High proportion of imports in all sectors (except for mining),particularly services Economic diversification Low Access to local finance All channelled through Perth and elsewhereIncome source – ownbusinessRelatively small SME sector39