The City of Perth is working to align with the State's Waste Avoidance and Resource Recovery Strategy 2030 to become a sustainable, low-waste, circular economy in which human health and the environment are protected from the impacts of waste.

Australians send more than 20 million tonnes of waste to landfill every year. We just put things in the bin and the council takes it away. It’s out of sight and out of mind. But the amount of waste we generate is a big problem, and it’s only getting bigger.

The city is committed to our waste target to achieve 70 per cent diversion from landfill by 2025. We need your help to make small changes to recycle correctly to reduce our overall waste. Does your building have recycling bins? Do you have too many or not enough bins? It may be time to review and evaluate your waste services.

Reducing energy use, climate change risks and waste; conserving water and protecting the natural environment; and planning for sustainable development are just some of the ways the City of Karratha works toward a thriving and sustainable natural and built environment.

The Northern Hub is one of eight national Drought Resilience Adoption and Innovation Hubs created as an initiative of the Future Drought Fund. The consortium of regional partners is committed to building the resilience and sustainable prosperity of rural industries and communities across the region.

The Hub will transform the drought resilience of farmers, traditional owners and communities in the Northern Territory and Northern Western Australian tropical top end and rangelands. This will be achieved by focusing on pastoral, broadacre, horticulture and forestry systems and water management.

The Red Earth Arts Precinct is the only facility of its kind in the North West, providing a 450+ seat theatre, rooftop cinema, outdoor amphitheatre and state-of- the-art library. This arts and culture hub is contributing to the city's economic development by attracting major conferences to Karratha, activating the city centre, attracting touring events to the North West, enabling small businesses to host community events, and enhancing the development of the tourism industry through additional visitation to the city.

The Pilbara is Western Australia's second most northern region, defined by the Indian Ocean to the west and the Northern Territory border to the east. The Kimberley Region lies to its north across the Great Sandy Desert and the Pilbara's southern reaches border the Gascoyne, Mid-West and Goldfields-Esperance regions. The region covers a total area of 507,896km (including offshore islands).

Most of the inhabitants of the Pilbara are located in the western third of the region, whereas the eastern third is largely desert with few inhabitants. The Pilbara has four local government areas - the City of Karratha, Shires of Ashburton and East Pilbara and the Town of Port Hedland. Other towns are Roebourne, Dampier, Onslow, Pannawonica, Paraburdoo, Tom Price, Wickham, Newman, Marble Bar and Nullagine.

The Pilbara is economically significant, both nationally and internationally, as the region is responsible for a major portion of the production, value, exports and investments of extraction industries commodities, particularly iron ore and liquefied natural gas (LNG). In addition to the immense reserves of natural resources, tourism, agriculture, fishing and aquaculture all feature prominently in the strengths and opportunities in the Region.

The City of Karratha, in partnership with the Karratha and Districts Chamber of Commerce and Industry, took a lead role to develop a business case and funding application for the establishment of the Pilbara Universities Centre in Karratha.

The proposed Pilbara Universities Centre would directly improve access to high quality university education locally, reduce migration from the region to pursue education, create opportunities to align tertiary education offerings with the local resources industry and connect local students with jobs in disciplines that are facing a skills shortage.

The Rural Clinical School of WA has programs in 15 rural towns including Karratha and Port Hedland.

Future Tails
Future Tails will contribute knowledge to specialist areas of research, including static liquefaction, filtered and dry stacked tailing and numerical modelling for dam break studies. This knowledge will lead the practice, technology and process for the next generation of geotechnical engineers.

Matt Currie, the Vice President of BHP’s Tailings Taskforce, said there was an increasing demand for tailings expertise, and for qualified people and methods to train these new professionals. “The program will provide essential training and development to people at all levels of their career, and help reinforce the different career paths within the tailings discipline,” Mr Currie said.

The major food industry in the Pilbara is rangeland beef production. Irrigated agriculture and fisheries are small, but developing industries.

A high value beef product might not be the first thing people connect to the vast, dry Pilbara of WA, but Singaporean businessman Bruce Cheung has tapped into the region’s water resources as part of his vision to produce Wagyu for a global market.

By developing water infrastructure to grow year round feed and produce boxed beef, he created an alternative to the region’s traditional model of turning cattle off native pastures for live export.

The Sahara Forest Project in Karratha aims to produce fruit and vegetables using recycled sea water and salt water-cooled greenhouses, powered by the sun.

The Northern Native Seed Industry Development Initiative (NNSIDI) will support the creation of new and innovative seed production enterprises throughout the Pilbara, Goldfields-Esperance, and Kimberley regions in Western Australia. The native seed industry has the potential to be a viable alternative to the current practice of wild harvesting.

Is Australia’s housing crisis self-inflicted? If so, then we need a series of reforms to reverse it
The best long-term solution to the structural problems of the rental crisis is to build more public and/or affordable housing.

Make renting more Sustainable. Increase rent assistance or look at rental caps, similar to countries in Europe and some US states, long term tenancy agreements with incentives for all parties to the agreement.

Build to Rent
The Build to Rent property sector is growing in Australia – this new class of housing is focused on providing high quality purpose designed and built rental stock, creating an additional housing choice for Australian renters with greater security and service.

Build to Rent developments are typically owned by institutional investors for the long term and the owner could be the developer/ongoing building manager. The format provides tenants with the flexibility of renting with the security of home ownership.

Build-to-Rent developments are usually large-scale residential properties specifically designed, built and managed for long-term ownership and rental.

Social Housing
In the 40 years between 1981 and 2021 the percentage of all Australian households living in social housing (i.e. state owned and managed public housing or community managed housing) has ranged from 4.9 per cent in 1981 to 3.8 per cent in 2021. Such a drop in the proportion of social housing raises the question of has Australia achieved the balance right, and also just what is the right level of social housing for Australia?

In 2018 Statistics Canada said 628,700 Canadian households, more than one in ten renter households nationally (13.5% of 4,652,500), were living in social and affordable housing.
In New Zealand, as of 30 June 2021, there were 74,337 public housing households. This equates to 4.0% of households living in social housing.

In England (in 2018) 17% of households (3.9 million) lived in social housing, while the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development publishes that 1.2 million households live in public housing, which is 0.98 per cent of all housing.

The Pilbara is economically significant, both nationally and internationally, as the region is responsible for a major portion of the production, value, exports and investments of extraction industries commodities, particularly iron ore and liquefied natural gas (LNG).

Gold, lithium, zinc and cobalt projects are currently being developed across the Pilbara and the City is the epicentre of this growth. Innovative technologies and our proximity to established operations provide opportunities for magnesium and urea processing operations in the city.

The region is rich with gold, cobalt, copper, manganese, nickel, lead and zinc and other minerals, helping create a rich and diverse local economy.
Renewable energy – the State Government has set aside $117.5 million to match Commonwealth funding to develop hubs in the Pilbara and Mid-West, putting WA at the forefront of this emerging industry.
The proposed hub would complement and build on activity already undertaken by the City and partners to establish the Pilbara Hydrogen Cluster - a group of likeminded organisations focused on building the skills, capability and viability of hydrogen opportunities in the Pilbara.
Future Tails
Future Tails will contribute knowledge to specialist areas of research, including static liquefaction, filtered and dry stacked tailing and numerical modelling for dam break studies. This knowledge will lead the practice, technology and process for the next generation of geotechnical engineers.

Matt Currie, the Vice President of BHP’s Tailings Taskforce, said there was an increasing demand for tailings expertise, and for qualified people and methods to train these new professionals. “The program will provide essential training and development to people at all levels of their career, and help reinforce the different career paths within the tailings discipline,” Mr Currie said.

The Pilbara Regiment is one of the Australian Army’s Regional Force Surveillance Units and vital to the Australian Defence Force’s defence of Australia. It is an Army reconnaissance and surveillance unit focussed on the collection of information in the northwest region of Western Australia.

With over 700 historic Indigenous archaeological sites and 1,000,000 rock engravings (Petroglyphs), many dating back some 30,000 years, the Burrup Peninsula is the perfect place to discover the unique art, history and culture of the Aboriginal people of the Pilbara.

Deep rocky canyons lead to peaceful plunge pools in the beautiful Karijini National Park. Hundreds of islands with dazzling white beaches and untouched coral gardens are yours to explore on the Dampier Archipelago and Mackerel Islands. And yet the Pilbara is also known as the engine room of Australia - home to a massive mining industry in crude oil, salt, natural gas and iron ore. An incredible juxtaposition of two very different industries.

Explore the Pilbara's colonial past in Roebourne, the oldest settlement in the North West. Cossack is a ghost town and has many beautifully restored historical buildings which offer an insight to the hardships and successes of the first settlers. There is also a perfectly positioned lookout here overlooking Jarman Island’s lighthouse built in 1888, the long white sand and sparkling blue ocean that is Settlers Beach.

The Karratha City in partnership with its waste contractor Cleanaway, helps to inform the community about waste and recycling to simplify processes, improve resource recovery and reduce the amount of waste going to landfill to help protect our natural environment.

Yara Pilbara is a producer of a chemical used in the manufacturing of industrial explosives. The 300,000 tonnes of ammonium nitrate produced each year on the peninsula directly underpins the blasting activities required to operate many of the Pilbara’s economy-shaping iron ore mines.

But straddling those two production regimes is a “waste” recycling initiative that is very much taking circular economics from paddock to plate in WA.

The product at the heart of this is known as Pivot 16. It’s being used a few hundred kilometres up the Pilbara coastline by Pardoo Beef Corporation to help grow pasture for cattle being raised for sale in both domestic and international markets.

The changing climate will become an ever more powerful driver as forests and farming is impacted by continued rainfall decline, storm events become more extreme, bushfires pose greater threats and habitat is threatened.

National Tidal Centre data showed that the South West had the greatest sea level rises in Australia (+7.4mm/pa, 1990-2010) which will inevitably impact coastal infrastructure.

Regardless of what people believe is the cause, the planet is getting hotter – every year for 44 years now. Bushfires have seen issues become increasingly political and there will likely be conflict between those seeking restoration of ecosystems and those seeking technological solutions.

Innovation in food, water for food and consumer attitudes will drive change as the impact of population and climate change affects lives. This will likely form a part of the deglobalisation attitude and shift to localisation – farmers’ markets, seasonal foods and so on.

The value of the sector is difficult to calculate given that it comprises advertising, architecture, art, crafts, design, fashion, film, music, performing arts, publishing, R&D, software, toys and games, TV and radio, and video games. Further complexity is added when accounting for employment that might be a mix of tasks that include creative industries work.

Interest in the South West is based upon the regional attractor, an organised cluster, tourism industry and events that support growth in the sector. There is ad hoc evidence indicating the sector has grown in areas of digital media, design, marketing, film, television, animation and gaming technologies.

The economic contribution of the arts is well recognised in the South West. The
region features Australia’s largest film prize through CinefestOZ, Western Australia’s premier country music event at Boyup Brook, plus the Cherry Harmony Festival, Truffle Kerfuffle and Margaret River Gourmet Escape.

The Capes region features Margaret River Open Studios which attracts 25,000 visitors each year to experience art in many forms, and there are music events from the Bridgetown Blues and Boyup Brook Country Music to Busselton’s Jazz on the Bay and Bunbury’s Grooving the Moo for young audiences.

The South West is one of Western Australia’s nine recognised regions located outside the Perth metropolitan area. Fronting the Indian and Southern oceans, covering 24,000 square kilometres and including 12 local government areas, the South West is the most populous and economically diverse of WA’s regions.

Of the landmass that comprises the region, about two-thirds is made up of State Forest, National Parks and regional parks, with the southern forests being the largest component. About 25% is occupied by agricultural and rural uses, with about 8% used for industrial and urban development.

The economy benefits from the combination of the commodity rich hinterland (agriculture and mineral resources) in close proximity to a working port. Alumina refining and associated construction play a major role in economic output and employment. Agriculture, forestry and associated processing are significant sectors supplying dairy, beef, vegetables and wood/timber products for domestic consumption and increasingly for export markets.

Historically, timber production and agriculture have been the predominant land uses within the Margaret River region, which has some of the most productive agricultural land in the State. The agriculture sector is diverse and includes a variety of cropping, viticulture and wine, fruit, flower and vegetable production, olives and olive oil, pasture production and livestock - beef and dairy cattle, sheep and deer, timber and artisan cheese production.

Universities and the VET sector need to embrace change and work together. The need for reskilling will combine higher education and vocational, the key being right-time right-place education.

Learning pathways will need to be easier to navigate and flexible, offering more choice and micro credentialing options.

Australia has a skills deficit along with most other countries and collectively, we need to increase work-integrated learning and particularly increase STEM-skilled graduate numbers.

The Margaret River region is a globally recognised brand which helps attract 86% of all overseas tourist visitation to the South West.

Of the South West’s five wine sub-regions, Margaret River contributes only 2% of the national crush but remains the standout for exports ($33m) with 59% of WA’s bottled wine export value and 54% of wine sold in the top two price brackets at an average of four times the Australian export average. The quality underpins regional brand recognition and reputation for other industry sectors, particularly tourism and food.

Fisheries, particularly aquaculture, have increasingly realised potential particularly in abalone along the south coast. In respect of fishing, the recreational fishing industry has greater value than commercial operations.

The Dardanup timber precinct captures Australia’s leading particle board manufacturer, Laminex, and Wespine which produces 80% of the State’s construction timbers. Koppers produces WA’s power poles. Sustainable practices used in the South West add value to timber and its credentials as the ultimate renewable construction material.

Is Australia’s housing crisis self-inflicted? If so, then we need a series of reforms to reverse it
The best long-term solution to the structural problems of the rental crisis is to build more public and/or affordable housing.

Make renting more Sustainable. Increase rent assistance or look at rental caps, similar to countries in Europe and some US states, long term tenancy agreements with incentives for all parties to the agreement.

Build to Rent
The Build to Rent property sector is growing in Australia – this new class of housing is focused on providing high quality purpose designed and built rental stock, creating an additional housing choice for Australian renters with greater security and service.

Build to Rent developments are typically owned by institutional investors for the long term and the owner could be the developer/ongoing building manager. The format provides tenants with the flexibility of renting with the security of home ownership.

Build-to-Rent developments are usually large-scale residential properties specifically designed, built and managed for long-term ownership and rental.

Social Housing
In the 40 years between 1981 and 2021 the percentage of all Australian households living in social housing (i.e. state owned and managed public housing or community managed housing) has ranged from 4.9 per cent in 1981 to 3.8 per cent in 2021. Such a drop in the proportion of social housing raises the question of has Australia achieved the balance right, and also just what is the right level of social housing for Australia?

In 2018 Statistics Canada said 628,700 Canadian households, more than one in ten renter households nationally (13.5% of 4,652,500), were living in social and affordable housing.
In New Zealand, as of 30 June 2021, there were 74,337 public housing households. This equates to 4.0% of households living in social housing.

In England (in 2018) 17% of households (3.9 million) lived in social housing, while the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development publishes that 1.2 million households live in public housing, which is 0.98 per cent of all housing.

Mining and mine processing are the South West’s most significant economic contributors. With the growth of the Greenbushes lithium mine, the highest grade and largest hard rock lithium deposit in the world, and the current development of the multi-billion-dollar Albemarle processing plant, mining and minerals processing will become ever more important.

Greenbushes is home to the world’s premium lithium ore (spodumene) resource. The operation was expanded and feeds a processing plant in Kwinana and one under construction in Kemerton, 17km from Bunbury Port.

Energy production in the region is experiencing unprecedented disruption. The days are numbered for traditional coal-fired baseload electricity generation and a local industry dating back to the 19th Century. Closures echo trends towards new energy and growth options that have seen solar and wind become the cheapest forms of power generation.

The energy landscape is changing in the face of climate change, the appetite for renewables, government policy and disruption to traditional baseload production. Homes are the new power generators and it is clear that the next two decades will look nothing like the last two. Rooftop solar take up (300MW across the state) has impacted on the grid and none more so than the South West Interconnected System (SWIS).

At the heart of the SWIS is Collie and since the 19th Century coal has been Collie’s major contribution to the State. However, that is changing as policy transitions to renewable and low emission energy production on an increasingly decentralised trading grid.

Tourism is of fundamental importance to the South West, as an employer and enhancing the regional brand at the international level. The Capes sub- region is one of Australia’s most tourism-dependent regions and a host of proposals can only heighten the South West’s standing in the world while adding value locally through employment and changed perceptions, particularly in respect of Bunbury’s waterfront.

World-beating plans to develop an internationally-recognised underwater observatory at Busselton, Australia’s first motorcycle trail hub in Manjimup, and, first class mountain biking experiences at a number of regional locations all add to brand reputation.

The 1.8km Busselton Jetty is the South West’s most visited attraction and features one of just six underwater observatories internationally. Inspired by migrating humpback whales that pass along the coastline, the new observatory is expected to pull in an extra 200,000 visitors per year once built.

Bunbury directly invests in tourism and is responsible for the management and funding of major regional tourism infrastructure and experiences including: Bunbury Visitor Centre, Bunbury Wildlife Park, Bunbury Museum and Heritage Centre, Bunbury Regional Art Gallery and the Bunbury Regional Entertainment Centre. Our aim is to ensure these services form part of a broad range of quality offerings in Bunbury.

The South West Waste Precinct has the potential to meet State and Federal policy expectations by rapidly heading towards zero waste to landfill while using ‘waste’ as a resource and boosting innovation, jobs and the economy. Developing a composting facility will cut landfill by 35,000tpa while a glass crusher would utilise every bottle reducing glass to sand for use in road building and additionally addressing a shortage of fill material.