In April earlier this year, North Australia Project Director John Shipp, advocated for land release programs that would ease the housing affordability crisis in North Australia, which is particularly acute in the Kimberley and Pilbara regions. This lack of housing affordability was preventing growth in Northern Australia, as John Shipp pointed out in the Pilbara Echo on 9 June. Now, thanks to pressure from ANDEV the Western Australian government has announced a $1.5 billion land release program to ease the housing affordability crisis in Port Hedland.
This comes after the Australian Financial Review reported on Wednesday 27 June, that rooms at Hilton Worldwide’s new hotel in the Pilbara town of Karratha, could cost more than comparable Hilton rooms in Paris, Sydney, Los Angeles and Milan. Industry sources predict rates could easily top $400 per night.
Miners are being increasingly driven away from investment in Australia as CEO of Base Resources Tim Carstens contends in this article. While his colleagues have been dealing with regulation and excessive taxation by the Australian government, Carstens has been developing a $US260 million mineral sands project in Kenya, which he believes now has a lower level of political risk than Australia.
This article by Brian Williams explains how Wild Rivers legislation is being wound back to encourage mining projects and growth for Northern communities.
The issue of union regulation is now starting to affect the resources sector, with Cental Queensland News reporting that one in five new resource projects are threatened by union action and their refusal to accept workplace agreements. The article reports that mining and resource companies are often forced to accept ‘exorbitant wage claims’ which affects investor confidence.
If you’d like more information on our vision for a new North, please contact John Shipp at jshipp@ipa.org.au or on 0429 706 661.
Also visit our website: www.andev-project.org/.
As always, please feel free to share your vision for a new North by emailing me at jroskam@ipa.org.au.