Australia Yearbook - 2001

Chapter 13—Industry overview 573
The chapters on economic
issues—a guide
Chapters 14 to 30 address economic
issues—Australia’s industries, some cross-cutting
issues, and the macroeconomic perspectives.
Industries
Chapters 15 to 24, 26 and 27 provide a detailed
discussion of individual industries, their
structure, performance and activities.
Chapter 15, Agriculture presents a detailed
picture of Australia’s agriculture industry,
including aspects such as land use, commodity
production, livestock numbers and employment.
Australian agriculture is a vital industry occupying
a significant place in global rural trade, with wool,
beef, wheat, cotton and sugar being particularly
important. Australia is also an important source of
dairy produce, fruit, rice and flowers. The chapter
includes two short historical articles, Agriculture,
the early years, and Agricultural inventions.
The main features of two important primary
industries in Australia, forestry and commercial
fishing, are presented in Chapter 16, Forestry
and fishing. The chapter includes two contrasting
short articles, Thinking ‘green’ in 1901, and
Timber then and now on the volumes of timber
sawn, imported and exported at the beginning of
the century and now.
The mining industry is profiled in Chapter 17,
Mining. Australia continues to rank as one of the
world’s leading mineral resource nations and
minerals exports are the nation’s largest export
earner. The chapter includes a review article
A century of mining in Australia.
Chapter 18, Energy presents information on the
energy sector—its resources, the supply and use
of energy products, conservation initiatives and
environmental issues. The export of coal,
petroleum, gas and uranium earned Australia
$15,700m in 1997–98, representing 18% of the
value of all exports in that year. In comparison,
$4,362m was spent on energy imports, mainly
crude oil and petroleum products.
The manufacturing industry is discussed in
Chapter 19, Manufacturing. This chapter
presents a range of data about manufacturing as
a whole and its constituent industries. It is an
important sector in the Australian economy,
contributing about 13% of Australia’s GDP and
12% of employment. However, the sector’s share
of Australian GDP has fallen over the past
20 years. The chapter includes a review article
Manufacturing in the twentieth century.
Chapter 20, Construction provides an analysis of
the construction industry and its activities. The
Construction industry engages in three broad
areas of activity: residential building (houses,
flats, etc.), non-residential building (offices,
shops, hotels, etc.), and engineering construction
(roads, bridges, water and sewerage, etc.).
A number of other parts of the Australian
economy are also closely linked to the
construction industry, including parts of the
manufacturing, wholesale and retail trade and
finance industries, in supplying components,
fittings and furnishings, and in financing
construction. The chapter includes an article The
Australian housing stock: 1911 and 1996.
A profile of Australia’s service industries is
included in Chapter 21, Service industries. These
industries are the most significant and fastest
growing component of the Australian economy.
This chapter presents them in overview, and
provides a range of statistical information for a
selection of the service industries, with a
particular focus on those surveyed in the ABS’s
rotating program of service industries collections.
The chapter includes an article The changing
face of the retail industry—1948 to 1992.
Chapter 22, Tourism presents statistics on
Australia’s tourism activities, both domestic and
international. In an economic context, the effects
of tourism are to generate economic activity and
to transfer such activity between different parts of
the economy. Tourism-related activity is now
recognised as a major contributor to total
economic activity. In particular, international
tourism has experienced substantial growth in
the past decade or so.
The transport industry and transport activities are
discussed in Chapter 23, Transport. Transport
has great economic and social impact, generating
substantial employment and contributing
significantly to GDP, with numerous support
industries ranging from automotive
manufacturers to travel agencies. There are also
social costs of transport—such as road accidents,
traffic congestion, fuel emissions, aircraft noise
pollution and shipping oil spills. The chapter
includes two short articles: A history of road
fatalities in Australia, and Australia’s motor
vehicle fleet since the 1920s.