A survey of 41 Western Australian resources sector operations has found that the State’s mining, oil and gas, energy and contractor industries contributed more than $57.7 billion to Australia’s economy in 2017-18.
The Chamber of Minerals and Energy of Western Australia (CME) Chief Executive Officer, Paul Everingham said the organisation asked its members, ‘What does industry spend and where?’
“The data provided by 41 resources sector operations for the financial year 2017-18, shows how industry’s spending flows through to every part of Western Australia, by means of wages and salaries, business purchases, government payments and community contributions,” Mr Everingham said.
“And this survey is just a snapshot of the sector’s contribution to the broader economy, the actual figure is likely to be substantially higher than $57.7 billion.”
Overall these companies:
- Contributed $38 billion to the Western Australian economy and a further $19.7 billion to the Australian economy
- Financially supported 772 community organisations in the State, and a further 15 nationally;
- Purchased goods and services from 13,654 Western Australia businesses and 6,583 businesses located elsewhere in Australia.
“Because the data was collected on a postcode basis, we are able to provide results specifically on the economic contribution of these companies to every Local, State and Federal electorate in WA,” he said.
“This information provides a unique picture of Western Australia’s largest export industry, not in modelling terms, but in actual spend.
“It demonstrates that each and every community in Western Australia has people living there, who work in the resources sector, and businesses who supply goods and services to the sector. From this, there are both direct and indirect benefits for these communities flowing from the financial contributions made by the companies.
“We have also included an example of how companies are active members of the community through initiatives across health, education and the environment.”
To view the factsheets, visit cmewa.com/economic-contribution