Shire of Roebourne Local Planning Strategy

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Shire of Roebourne Local Planning StrategyTechnical Report A1: Economic Development Strategy8 Strategic Analysis8.1 Summary strategic assessmentA summary strategic assessment of the economic strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threatsinforms the development of specific programs:StrengthsThe Shire contains large world-class economic activity;This provides world-class purchasers, which means that local businesses selling to the maineconomic base (i.e. the minerals and resources sector and to any agri-businessdiversification projects that may become established) will have the skills and experience ofmarketing to major purchaser and may have exportable goods or services applicable to inother similar international markets;It is the biggest centre in the region, housing the greatest diversification, scale and range ofregional services, including a substantial health campus, one public and one private highschool and a TAFE centre with remote university facilities. It is the location of the regionaloffice for a number of government agencies;As the largest town in the Pilbara it is most likely to contain the mix of community, culturaland social facilities that will keep attract and keep a wider population mix. There is a goodvariety of lifestyle attractions around the Nickol Bay area generally; andThere is forecast continuing expansion for the local and regional economy.Weaknesses Labour costs are high, on all national and international comparisons; General costs of doing business are high, including high utilities and services costs; Costs of commercial and residential accommodation remain relatively high, although theseare starting to moderate; Local market is still small (Scale not yet there); There is ‘crowding out’ of tourism activity by FIFO worker demand – this is expected toreduce fairly quickly from 2014; Human capital rankings (educational attainment, skilled labour) are relatively low comparedwith other Australian regions; and High proportions of services are imported from other centres, principally Perth.OpportunitiesThere are opportunities in: Expansion of the economic base; Diversification projects; Tourism expansion; Services expansion; and Expansion of the small business sector.ThreatsThreats to economic growth include: An unexpected slow-down in mining activity possibly caused by substantial reductions incommodity prices due to reduced economic activity in major markets, particularly China;61
Shire of Roebourne Local Planning StrategyTechnical Report A1: Economic Development StrategyReduced or delayed infrastructure investment, possibly caused by budgetary constraints atboth state and federal level;Failure to address weaknesses in the local economy, particularly labour andaccommodation costs; andUncertainty of the future of significant government funding (e.g. via the Royalties for Regionsscheme) for necessary infrastructure projects.8.2 Responding to opportunities - expansion of existing projects and additionalresource projectsSituation summary:The prospects are for strong growth in operations expansion in for iron ore and other minerals in thePilbara and wider region. However, very few of these new projects are in the Shire.Opportunities will therefore be in value chain goods and services to both construction and operationalphases. Karratha is already a centre for this, with a god number of small and medium enterprisesmarketing into the Resource sector value chain.This requires support.Similarly LNG generally shows very high growth prospects. However, the extent to which this will flowon to specifically to the Shire of Roebourne is uncertain. There are prospects for on-shore support tofuture Processing of Browse Basin gas on-shore at Dampier is one of the options for the Browse Basingas (along with James Price Point at Broome and a floating LNG platform), and there is a small chancethat this will occur. However, this is likely not to lead to very large increases in operational labour demand.With a solid and expanding LNG industry the opportunities for businesses in the Shire are likely to be touse the existing skill base in LNG and offshore servicing to expand to other areas. However, it isnoteworthy that the current preferred site for a common user facility that might be a focus for theexpansion of businesses servicing the off-shore industry is at Port Hedland.There is likely to be quite rapid increase in the level of knowledge of FLNG technology and capturing thisin the Shire, possibly via some specialised research projects, to the extent it is possible will provide aknowledge base that can be applied elsewhere.Consequences for Shire EDS:Expansion of the existing economic base is largely out of the direct control of the Shire. The Shire cantherefore help with facilitation and seek to maximise local content, for example in: Fabrication; Marine services; and Services (admin, food/catering).It can achieve this by: Ensuring there is sufficient zoned and serviced industry and commercial land; Fostering the further development of SMEs in mining and resources support services andthe resources value chain.62
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