Pilbara region receives nearly $2 billion of funding into the economy

The Pilbara is one of the biggest winners of the surging resources sector which has delivered nearly $2 billion directly into the region’s economy. A survey conducted on 65 Chamber of Minerals and Energy WA member companies found the total injection of funds to the region was $1.79b in revenue from 2019-2020. The data revealed member companies directly employed 5989 people locally in the Pilbara, paying them more than $930 million in wages, with a further $860m supporting 390 Pilbara businesses, 103 community organisations in the region, and all four local governments. CME WA policy and advocacy director Rob Carruthers said the wages paid to employees was a significant component of that $1.79b, as were payments to local government authorities through rates and levies. “This is full-time equivalent direct jobs and this is actual direct payments made to companies and from that obviously flows indirect benefits which you see in wider statistics,” he said. “What this shows is there is a significant base to build off and this is year-on-year, long-term contributions.” Mr Carruthers said the growth in the resources sector was a contributor to the development of the Pilbara. “You only have to set foot in Karratha and other towns in the Pilbara to see how much they have been transformed over the past 10-15 years on the back of the growth of the resources sector,” he said. “This is all in the context of a pretty challenging 12-18 months with COVID. Some of the predictions around March 2020 were pretty dire in terms of what the worst-case scenario would look like.” Reach Us Pilbara, a not-for-profit providing auxiliary care for cancer patients is one of the organisations to benefit. Reach Us Pilbara support co-ordinator Jas Ashcroft said the resources sector had contributed close to $80,000 to the organisation over four years. She said Reach Us had also received a Lotterywest grant to fund a full-time support coordinator for 2021. “We experienced a growth of 350 per cent from 2019 to 2020,” she said. “Long-term resource sector funding will be vital to ensure the future of our organisation as it continues to grow.” City of Karratha Mayor Peter Long said investment made by the sector had been key to the development of the Pilbara. “The City of Karratha is a port city which through the resource industry has diversified from iron ore exports in the 1960s to salt, natural gas products, gaseous ammonia, and ammonium nitrate and is soon to be a producer of renewable hydrogen,” he said. “The continued investment by the sector in maintenance and new projects directly employs nearly 32 per cent of the Karratha workforce and indirectly supports thousands of jobs in transport, warehousing, accommodation and professional services.” Mr Long said the City’s community infrastructure and services partnership with Rio Tinto, had helped the development of major City facilities including the Karratha Leisureplex and the Red Earth Arts Precinct. Town of Port Hedland Mayor Peter Carter said the strength of the resources industry had a flow-on effect for Port Hedland, helping the Town advance a number of key infrastructure projects. “The time is now right for all parties, including the Town, to make a significant investment in our community, in order to make it welcoming, inviting, prosperous, high in amenity and liveability, (and) sustainable,” he said.