Western
Australia
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Of The Month: 6PR
The West
Kym Illman Peter
McLernon
Western
Australia is Australia's largest state in area,
covering the western third of the mainland, and
is bordered by South Australia and the Northern
Territory. It is, after the Sakha Republic in
Russia, the second largest subnational entity
in the world. Despite this the population is only
2,105,800 making up 10% of Australia's total population.
The
people of Western Australia, West Australians
or Western Australians, are often colloquially
referred to as sandgropers because of the insect
found on sand dunes around Perth.
Economy
Western
Australia has the highest per capita output of
any Australian state, with an economy that has
been largely based on the extraction and export
of mining and petroleum commodities, especially,
iron, alumina, natural gas, nickel and gold. Western
Australia is a leading alumina extractor, producing
more than 20% of the world's alumina. It is also
the world's third-largest iron ore producer, producing
around 15% of the world's total iron ore output.
Western Australia also extracts up to 75% of Australia's
240 tonnes of gold. Diamonds are extracted at
Argyle diamond mine in the North West. Coal is
mined at Collie and used for domestic power production.
Western
Australia's economy recently has benefited from
an unprecedented amount of foreign demand for
resources, particularly from China. This has contributed
to strong GSP growth. Perth has emerged as a significant
administration centre for businesses in the mineral
and oil and gas industries.
Agricultural
exports are also important (amounting to approximately
3% of GSP), especially wheat, barley and sheep
products such as wool and meat. Approximately
50% of Australia's live cattle exports come from
WA. In recent years, tourism has grown in importance,
with the majority of visitors coming from the
United Kingdom and Ireland, Singapore, Japan and
Malaysia.
Western
Australia, with about 10% of Australia's population,
has historically generated approximately 30% of
Australia's export revenues, however the recent
commodities boom has pushed this figure to now
exceed 40%. The State now generates more export
income than New South Wales and Victoria (Australia's
two most populous states) combined. High incomes,
strong corporate activity, lower unemployment,
mineral revenue and a younger population mean
that Western Australia provides a significant
financial subsidy to all other states. The economic
boom in Western Australia is so strong that a
significant labour shortage has emerged. The state
government has launched an appeal for more people
to move to the growing state at www.gowestnow.com.
Very high levels of job vacancies have emerged
and unless skilled workers can be found, the state
government fears that significant economic opportunities
may be lost. The average full time income for
a Western Australian in 2007 was A$61,662, compared
to the national average of A$57,387, and was ranked
2nd nationwide behind the Australian Capital Territory.
This
boom has also caused a massive rise in property
values. Average residential property increased
in value by over 40% in 2006, however values have
remained rather flat in 2007. Perth property is
now the second most valuable in Australia behind
Sydney. Large projects continue to fuel the economy
and population growth continues to push rental
prices up.
Significant
refining and manufacturing industries are located
within the state and are continuing to grow strongly
with the state's booming economy. These include
Liquified natural gas production mainly for export
to Asia, Petro chemicals and fertilizer Production
in the North West Shelf region. In September 2007,
Hu Jintao, the President of China visited Western
Australia and committed to the purchase of AUD$45
Billion worth of gas over a lengthy period. This
is the largest export contract Australia has ever
had.
A
major heavy industrial area is located south of
Perth at Kwinana. Oil Refining is conducted here
along with an ironplant owned by Rio Tinto. Alumina
and Nickel are also produced in Kwinana. Shipbuilding
is conducted at Austal yards in Henderson south
of Fremantle. Several heavy and light engineering
and metal fabrication factories are located in
Perth catering for the demands of the mining industry.
Other light industries include cement and building
product manufacturing, flour milling, food processing,
animal feed production, automotive body building,
printing and boat building.
Several
major along with smaller specialised breweries
are located mainly in Perth including Swan Brewery
at Canning Vale, Carlton United Brewing at Mosman
Bay others include Little Creatures Brewery in
Fremantle and Gage Roads Brewery also Fremantle.
Western Australia also has major wine producing
regions in the South West located in the Margaret
River region and Swan Valley. Several wineries
produce wine for local consumption and international
export.
Western
Australia has a significant fishing industry that
produces fish for local consumption and foreign
export including Western Rock Lobsters, Prawns,
Crabs, Shark and Tuna. Processing is conducted
along the west coast. Whaling ceased at Albany
in 1978.
Perth
is a centre for banking and finance, and includes
state head offices for all major banks, Commonwealth,
National Australia Bank, Westpac and ANZ. It is
also home to the Head Office of Woodside Petroleum
and has major offices for Rio Tinto, BHP and Western
Mining Corporation. Perth is Australia's main
centre for mining and oil and gas administration.
Several insurance companies have large offices
in Perth including AXA, Aviva, AMP and SGIO.
Due
to Perth being the only major capital city in
Australia in which it is possible to contact Europe
during normal business hours and is in the same
time zone as Singapore, Manila, Hong Kong, Beijing
and Seoul, Perth does an enormous amount of trading
between the close of North American and the opening
of European Stock Exchanges, and with Asia.
Perth
has the biggest retail sector in the state with
retail outlets being found mainly in Hay, Murray
and Wellington Streets. Several large shopping
malls are located in the suburbs at Garden City,
Karrinyup, Morley and Cannington. Department stores
include Myer and David Jones. Fremantle is also
a retail centre catering for local and tourist
needs.
Retail
trade is tightly regulated and there are strict
restrictions on the hours that stores are allowed
to open. Major stores are restricted to open between
8:00am and 6:00 p.m. weekdays except Thursdays
in the suburbs where closing time is 9:00pm. On
Saturdays stores are open from 8:00 am to 5:00pm.
A referendum was held on 26 February 2005 on the
issue of allowing weekday trading to 9pm and 6
hours of trade on Sundays; the referendum was
defeated.
Exemptions
to this are granted for designated tourist precincts
of the Perth city centre, Fremantle and major
regional centres: these are allowed to trade on
Sundays from 12:00pm until 5:00pm. The Perth City
area has Friday night trading until 9:00pm.
Education
Education
in Western Australia consists of one year of pre-school
at age 5, followed by seven years of primary school
education, ie Years 1 through 7. Students move
into Year 8 at age 13 and five years of secondary
education. The final two years of secondary education
are currently changing to compulsory. All students
who completed Year 10 in 2005 are now required
to undertake further studies in Year 11. Students
are required to complete the year in which they
turn 16 (usually Year 11).
Commencing
in 2008 all students will be required to complete
12 years of study before leaving school. Students
will have the option to study at a TAFE college
in their eleventh year or continue through high
school with a vocational course or a specific
University entrance course.
The
major universities in Western Australia are Curtin
University of Technology, Murdoch University,
Edith Cowan University, University of Notre Dame
and the University of Western Australia.
Media
Print
Western
Australia has two daily newspapers: the independent
tabloid The West Australian, Countryman and The
Kalgoorlie Miner. Also published is one Sunday
tabloid newspaper, News Corporation's The Sunday
Times.There are also 17 weekly Community Newspapers
with distribution from Yanchep in the North to
Mandurah in the South.However, the interstate
broadsheet publication The Australian is also
available, although with sales per capita lagging
far behind those in other states. With the advent
of the Internet, other online publications from
around the world are now easily accessible. Some,
like the New South Wales based The Sydney Morning
Herald and The Australian which provide free access
to their sites, are becoming increasingly popular.
Television
Metropolitan
Perth has six broadcast television stations;
* ABC WA. Produces nightly local news at 7pm.
(digital & analogue) (callsign: ABW - Channel
2 Analogue, Channel 12 Digital)
* SBS WA (digital & analogue) (callsign: SBS
- Channel 28 Analogue, Channel 29 Digital)
* Seven Network Perth. Produces weeknightly local
news from 6pm - 7pm. (digital & analogue)
(callsign: TVW - Channel 7 Analogue, Channel 6
Digital)
* Nine Network Perth. Produces weeknightly local
news from 6pm - 6.30pm. (digital & analogue)
(callsign: STW - Channel 9 Analogue, Channel 8
Digital)
* Network Ten Perth. Airs weeknightly local news
from 5pm - 6pm, however live from Sydney. (digital
& analogue) (callsign: NEW - Channel 10 Analogue,
Channel 11 Digital)
* Access 31. Community service channel. (analogue-only)
(callsign: ATW - Channel 31 Analogue)
In
addition, broadcasters operate digital multichannels:
* ABC2 (carried by ABW)
* SBS World News Channel (carried by SBS)
* Ten HD (carried by NEW)
* Seven HD (carried by TVW)
* Nine HD (carried by STW)
Regional
WA has a similar availability of stations, with
the exception of Access 31 in all areas but Bunbury
and Albany. The metropolitans commercial stations
are affiliated with:
* Golden West Network (GWN). Produces weeknightly
local news from 5.30pm - 6pm, also airs Seven
Perth news until 7pm) (analogue only) (callsign:
SSW South West, VEW Goldfields/Esperance, GTW
Central West, WAW Statewide)
* WIN Television WA. Produces weeknightly local
news from 5:30pm - 6pm, however live from Perth.
Also airs Nine Perth news from 6pm - 6:30pm. (analogue
only) (callsign: WOW)
Pay
TV services are provided by Foxtel, which acquired
many of the assets and all the remaining subscribers
of the insolvent Galaxy Television satellite service
in 1998. Some metropolitan suburbs are serviced
by Pay TV via cable; however, most of the metropolitan
and rural areas can only access Pay TV via satellite.
Radio
Perth
have many radio stations on both AM and FM frequencies.
ABC stations include News Radio (585AM), Local
Radio 6WF (720AM), Radio national (810AM), Classic
FM (97.7FM) and Triple-J. The 6 commercial stations
are: FM- 92.9, Nova 93.7, Mix 94.5, 96fm, and
AM- 882 6PR, and 1080.
The
leading community stations are RTR FM 92.1 and
Sonshine FM 98.5. (Credit:
Wikipedia).
Profiles
Peter McLernon
Kym
Illman
Messages
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The
West
Perth
Australia
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