ww

w.sw

an.wa.gov.au

ww

w.sw

an.wa.gov.au

Economic2015

STRATEGIC COMMUNITY PLAN REVIEWDiscussion Paper

 

1. Background

The City of Swan has a diverse economic base and strong economic sectors including construction, retailing, manufacturing, property and business services, wholesale trade, agriculture/livestock and tourism.

As well as a significant growth in population over the last 20 years, industrial, commercial and tourism areas have also grown with the development of the Malaga industrial area, the expansion of the Midland retail sector and growth of the Swan Valley wine region.

The City of Swan is the northern and eastern gateway to regional Western Australia with Great Eastern Highway, Great Northern Highway and the Midland train line all leading into Midland.

The City of Swan also has major metropolitan arterial roads of Tonkin Highway, Reid Highway and Roe Highway running through or around it, making the City of Swan easy to get to for visitors and an attractive base for businesses with ease of access to metropolitan and regional Western Australia.1

Further to this is the City’s strategic location in Perth, its skilled and diverse workforce and its diverse development opportunities from a residential, commercial and industrial viewpoint.

 

2. Trends

The global economy is currently recovering from the 2008 economic crisis. Australia coped with the crisis well and was one of only a few developed countries in the world not to experience a recession. However, a more recent slowdown in the mining industry, especially coal and iron ore, has caused some concern within the economic sector. While most business sectors are still experiencing patchy growth, the overall economic outlook for Australia is positive with the economy predicted to steadily grow and the unemployment rate expected to remain steady or decrease over the coming years. Western Australia’s unemployment rate is lower than the national average at 6% compared to 6.1% in January 2015.

The Chamber of Commerce and Industry Western Australia (CCIWA) predicts that Western Australia will require an additional 488,500 workers between 2010 and 2020. Recent analysis by the Department of Training and Workforce Development indicates approximately 275,000 workers will be provided through natural population growth and migration. But CCIWA predicts that Western Australia will still experience an estimated shortfall of 210,000 workers by 2020.2

Within the City of Swan, the three largest industries are manufacturing; construction; and rental, hiring and real estate services. Manufacturing contributes 36% of the City of Swan’s annual output, almost three times that of construction. The largest areas in employment are in manufacturing, which provides almost 20% of employment, followed by the retail trade at 12.4% and the construction industry at 9.2%.

Over the next 20 years it is estimated that the number of jobs in the Perth Eastern Region (which includes the local areas of Swan, Bassendean, Bayswater, Belmont, Mundaring and Kalamunda) will need to increase by 45% to accommodate the growing population.3 This population growth will primarily be within the City of Swan.

Compared to the Perth Metropolitan area, residents of the City of Swan are more likely to work in construction, retail trade, transport, postal and warehousing, wholesale trade, or agriculture, forestry and fishing.

The City of Swan has a smaller proportion of people holding formal qualifications (Bachelor or higher degree; Advanced Diploma or Diploma; or vocational qualifications) and a larger proportion of people with no formal qualifications compared to the Perth area. Overall, 34.8% of the population hold educational qualifications and 52.2% had no qualifications.3

More than 95% of businesses in the City of Swan are small businesses, with over half of these being sole traders and non-employing. Advances in technology are allowing more and more small businesses to operate as home based businesses, making them a vital part of the City of Swan economy.

Tourism is a growing industry within the City of Swan. The Swan Valley is the most established tourism area. It is a unique area with one of the oldest wine regions, historic attractions, restaurants, cafes, breweries, food, art, recreational attractions, scenery and nature. In the last three years the average number of tourism visitors to the City of Swan comprised of 75,300 domestic visitors and 12,700 international visitors. While the occupancy rate for visitor accommodation in the City of Swan is below the metropolitan average and ranged between 40.5% in August 2009 and 67.7% in February 2008, it is a potential area of growth as tourism expands in the Swan Valley.

 

In November 2010, the State Government designated Midland as a special trading precinct allowing Midland shops to be open on Sundays highlighting it as a strategic regional centre. This has already created a notable economic boost to businesses in Midland and has the potential to link visitors to the Swan Valley and surrounds.

 

3. Key Considerations

There are a range of topics that add to the complexity of economic development within the City of Swan. Below are some of the key considerations.

3.1 Jobs and Skills

Of all new jobs forecast to be created between over the coming years, mining and construction jobs are predicted to account for the highest proportion, with the retail, manufacturing, health care, education and training, and professional, scientific and technical services industries also featuring prominently. Within these industries, it is predicted that over half these jobs will be in the higher skilled categories including professionals, managers, technicians and trade workers. These are more knowledge intensive jobs and require higher level qualifications of Certificate III and above.

The Western Australian Department of Training and Workforce Development states that the vocational education and training participation rate for people aged 15 to 64 in Western Australia in 2008 was 7.1%, the second lowest of all states and territories and below the national average of 8.0%. This, in part, is explained by the high workforce participation rates that Western Australia traditionally enjoys as job opportunities compete with training. A key issue is how to encourage more students and employers to undertake and invest in training despite these strong economic conditions and employment opportunities. This includes changing employer and student perceptions about vocational education and training, ensuring that training delivery is flexible and leads to positive employment outcomes.

Literacy and numeracy competency is also an issue that needs to be addressed so that young and mature people can increase their skills.4 The Council of Australian Governments (COAG) states that more than 4 in 10 people have literacy and numeracy skills below level three, considered by COAG to be the minimum level required by individuals to meet the complex demands of working and living in a modern economy.

3.2 Land Use and Infrastructure

To accommodate the growing population and economy, land needs to be made available for housing, industry and infrastructure (road, rail, public facilities).5 Currently, there is a shortfall of industrial land supply in the Perth and Peel region. With Western Australia entering a time of economic growth, there will be another increase in demand for industrial areas. Retail and commercial centres will also need to be renewed, expanded and developed to meet the needs of the growing population.6

For more information please refer to the 'Built Environment' discussion paper.

3.3 Business Growth and Investment Attraction

With advances in new technologies, the economy is becoming increasingly globalised with many companies relocating their jobs offshore and many local businesses competing with a wider market as consumers increasingly use the internet to source goods and services. Local government areas need to demonstrate and increase their competiveness and capacity to attract, retain and sustain business investment and growth as set out by the City’s Commercial and Economic Development business unit.

 

4. What this means for the City of Swan

The City of Swan has a great opportunity to take advantage of the expected growth in the Western Australian economy and ensure it has a prosperous economic future by facilitating economic growth and investment. The City can continue to support local businesses by offering information and referral services, business support, investment attraction, strategic planning and advocacy. The City of Swan can also work with State Government and other regional agencies to support local economic growth.

4.1 Jobs and Skills

There is opportunity for residents, especially within the younger population in the City of Swan, to expand their skills to take advantage of the expected increase in jobs, especially knowledge intensive jobs. There is also potential to advocate the attraction of additional higher educational institutions to assist residents to increase their skill levels. This needs to be coordinated with the growth in industry to ensure training and educational facilities are located nearby for ease of access and to also offer training that is useful for industry.

4.2 Land Use and Infrastructure

The State Government and the City of Swan are developing a number of strategies to ensure that enough land is available for industrial and commercial use.

Hazelmere Enterprise Area, Whiteman Industrial Area and Bullsbrook South Industrial Area have been identified as priority industrial sites, with North Ellenbrook identified as a future industrial site. Midland has also been identified by the State Government as a Strategic Metropolitan Centre. These centres are multi-purpose centres that provide a mix of retail, office, community, entertainment, residential and employment activities, and are well serviced by high frequency public transport.

To further develop Midland as a Strategic Metropolitan Centre, the State Government’s Metropolitan Redevelopment Authority (MRA) and the City of Swan are working together to revitalise central Midland.7 Key projects include the State’s largest police complex, bulk goods shopping centre and the Midland Health Campus (305 bed hospital).8 It is estimated that these projects alone will inject $1.2 billion into the local economy, creating more than 7,500 jobs over the next twenty years.9 The MRA also plans to convert the old railway workshops into contemporary uses and create an active urban village, focusing on creative industries, education and heritage activities with apartments and townhouses. The MRA is also investigating the coordination of train and bus services near the new hospital, attraction of higher educational institutions, provision of additional train stations and relocation of the freight train line out of the city centre.

4.3 Business Growth and Investment Attraction

Currently, there is a lack of local employment opportunities in high skill and knowledge intensive industries. This creates scope for these industries to be encouraged to expand and invest within the City of Swan. The Midland Health Campus will attract knowledge intensive businesses in health care, professional, science and technical service industries, which will create more opportunities for existing local businesses to service these industries and also for knowledge intensive jobs to be created for local residents.

 

The City of Swan, in partnership with the Swan Chamber of Commerce, has also established a free 24-hour Wi-Fi internet service across Midland’s central business district. It is the first project of its kind in Western Australia and is designed to give Midland a competitive advantage to help increase business activity in the CBD by attracting longer customer visits, new customers and increasing customer spend.

With the growth in population in Western Australia and throughout the nation there is also opportunity to expand tourism within the City of Swan, particularly in the Swan Valley. This creates the opportunity to determine future direction and destination development of the Swan Valley.10

 

Endnotes

1. City of Swan, Economic Vision and Strategy, 2013

2. Department of Training and Workforce Development, 2010, Skilling WA – A workforce Development Plan for Western Australia

3. Forecast id, 2014, City of Swan Population Forecasts

4. International Monetary Fund (IMF) World Economic Outlook January 2014

5. Planning WA, April 2010, Industrial Land Strategy 2009, Peel and Perth

6. Planning WA, August 2010, State Planning Policy 4.2, Activity Centres for Perth and Peel

7. Midland Redevelopment Authority, 2015, www.mra.wa.gov.au

8. Pracsys, 2011, Perth’s Eastern Region Employment Characteristics (for EMRC)

9. The Chamber of Commerce and Industry Western Australia June 2010, Building Western Australia’s Workforce for Tomorrow, Discussion Paper

10. Tourism Western Australia, 2014, www.tourism.wa.gov.au