PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Western Australia has emerged as the only state to record positive economic growth in 2020/21, with the state government on Thursday announcing that the economy was expected to grow by 1.25%.

Premier Mark McGowan noted that the forecast for continued growth is supported by a range of economic indicators that have already returned to, and in most cases exceeded, pre-Covid levels, including household and business confidence, retail trade and jobs advertised online. Across most of these indicators, the pace of recovery in Western Australia is leading the nation.

“Importantly, Western Australia has also benefited from the strength of its resources sector with investment and production largely unaffected throughout the pandemic,” the Premier said.

"The strong efforts around financial repair and supporting the WA economy over the past three years meant that Western Australia had a strong economic and fiscal basis to respond to the impacts of the virus.

"This is a testament to Western Australia getting on top of the virus early, which enabled the state government to remove most restrictions before other large states and open up the economy to a far greater degree than anywhere else in Australia,” McGowan said.

"Our focus is on keeping Western Australia safe and strong, by protecting the health of the community and leading the state's economic recovery from Covid-19, through creating opportunities for local businesses and jobs for Western Australians.

"This is why we are concentrating our efforts on supporting businesses and creating a pipeline of jobs, and fast-tracking hundreds of state government projects right across the state to boost the economy."

The Association of Mining and Exploration Companies (Amec) said the state Budget demonstrated the significant contribution that the Western Australian mining sector has made and the role it would continue to play in driving the state’s economic recovery and future.

“Today’s Budget figures underscore the importance of the Western Australian government’s decision to allow the mining and mineral exploration industry to continue to operate during Covid-19 under strict health guidelines, and how that decision has paid dividends in jobs and royalties,” said CEO Warren Pearce.

“The Western Australian state Budget was boosted by a A$2.4-billion increase in royalty income, as the mining industry helped carry Western Australia through the worse global economic contraction in 100 years. 

“As at September 2020, the brightness of Western Australia’s mining investment future must be the envy of the world with an estimated A$129-billion worth of resource projects in the development pipeline, and more than 10 000 jobs that could be created through their delivery.

“For mining and mineral exploration, the Budget’s focus on investing in a step change in the efficiency and effectiveness of the approvals process is extremely welcome. As is the significant investment in the state’s economic infrastructure, with port, road and rail projects expected to aid efficiency and productivity improvements in the economy,” Pearce said.

He noted that the A$37.2-million of funding to the Environment Online Programme and Biodiversity Information Office being developed in partnership with the commonwealth government could reduce approval processes by a staggering 6 to 12 months, bringing forward significant resource sector investment.

“The investments in streamlining approvals, while ensuring the rigorous environmental standards Western Australians expect are met, will provide long-term benefits to the economy.

“More impactful than any government expenditure measure, further streamlining and red tape reduction will release much greater private sector investment into the economy much earlier and help drive the state’s recovery and growth.”

The Budget includes commitments to deliver long sought legislative amendments to the Mining Act, including the introduction of a single approval instrument to approve mining project activities across multiple tenements, reducing the administrative burden for industry and government via automated assessment and authorisation of low risk exploration and prospecting activities subject to acceptance of standardised conditions.

“The administrative reforms are sensible amendments to the Mining Act and will unlock greater growth and jobs from the mining and mineral exploration sector and reduce the burden on government and industry alike,” Pearce said.

“Continued efforts to remove investment barriers are needed to encourage increased private sector investment into the state.

“The A$7-million expansion of the Joe Lord Core Library’s geoscientific capacity will allow the catalogue of Western Australia’s geoscientific knowledge to grow and support the better targeting of mineral resources.

“Western Australia has delivered the first Covid-19 state Budget. It shows how critical the mining and mineral exploration industry is for Western Australia’s economic recovery, but also the remarkable resilience of Western Australia and its economy,” he added.