Business News - WA
At Close of Business podcast August 28 2024
(upbeat music) All the latest business news from WA, deliver daily. At close of business, news briefing. Good afternoon and welcome to the Outclose of Business podcast, I'm Sam Jones and I'll be reading a Wednesday headlines. The state government has labeled province resources decision to scrub its plans for a major green hydrogen project disappointing after it got blamed for the company's decision. ASX listed province as shelved early stage plans to build an ambitious green hydrogen and ammonia gas production and export facility powered by renewable energy in the gas point. The proposed project dubbed high energy was supported by the state government which awarded at lead agency status in 2021 meaning province would be assisted with the approvals processes. It was earmarked for a 595000 hectare development envelope across parcel stations and vacant crown land around the canal and coastline touted as prime renewables territory. On Tuesday, province told the market it wouldn't progress the project and pen the decision on delays with the state government causing a reduction in investor interest. But a state government spokesperson refuted the notion that it was to blame and said it had worked hard to facilitate the project and was disappointed province had walked away from the opportunity. And sticking with resources, force you ended the 2024 financial year with a profit of $5.7 billion US dollars and 18% growth from the previous reporting period while announcing an increase in dividends. The Andrew Forrest chair business reported its financial year 24 results this morning recording a net profit after tax of $5.7 billion US dollars and a fully frank dividend of 89 cents a share. It brings the total dividend declared for FY 24 to $1.97 a share, a 70% payout of the company's net profit after tax. The company also recorded 191.6 million tonnes in iron ore shipments for the year which the company claimed contributed to the third highest earnings in its history. And finally, the irritating and time-consuming queues at US Customs will finally end for Ozzie's traveling from 2025 following news we were joining the US's global entry program. Eligible Australians who sign up for the global entry program will benefit from streamlined immigration and customs clearance channels on arrival, which will take minutes, not hours. Initially, the program will be available from January 2025 to a limited number of Australians who travel frequently to the US with work underway to open the program to all eligible Australians who wish to apply later in the year. Australians participating in the program will also be eligible to participate in the Transportation Security Administration's Pre-Check program, allowing for expedited screening processes for domestic US flights. That's all for today's headlines. You can read more at businessnews.com.au. Coming up on the podcast, Nadia, Buddy Harjo and Liv de Clerk discuss new developments in WA's arts and culture scene. (upbeat music) - Stay on top of the latest news stories that are impacting your business, industry or sector. The new Look Business News app gives subscribers breaking news alerts, access to additions, articles by category, as well as our advanced data and insight search function to find projects, people and companies. It's your mobile portal to the latest intelligence on commerce, politics and industry, wherever you are. Stay informed at critical times and download today. Visit businessnews.com.au/app, download on the App Store or get it on Google Play now. (upbeat music) - Welcome back to At Clothes of Business. I'm Nadia, Buddy Harjo and today I'll be speaking to Liv de Clerk, who took a deep dive into the arts and culture sector in WA in the recent edition of the Business News magazine. Liv, you sat down with the chief executive of the Chamber of Arts and Culture WA. What did you have to say about the sector? - Oh, Tanya Hudson had lots to say about the condition of WA's arts sector and basically the gap between where it currently sits and the potential it could reach with more investment and development. When we spoke, she said one thing she was really concerned about was the local perception of our arts and culture scene. Tanya said that the work produced in Western Australia was of such a high quality, innovative and just incredibly good and in her opinion, often better, than other places around the world. Yet the broader community here was not very good at recognizing that she thinks this might be because of our geographic isolation and the preconceived assumption that what's happening elsewhere is better. That whole theory of the grasses green are on the other side. So this was an area that Tanya said needs more focus and dedication moving forward. Basically, we need to improve the local perception of the arts, improve the way the industry tells its own story and develop more narratives around the work that we produce. Another thing she touched on was the power of arts and culture to diversify and strengthen the economy and how this was often underestimated. Increased investment in the sector was vital for its sustained development and local capacity building as well as attracting international artists, performances, acts and so forth and the benefits that these can give to our local economy, our local tourism and the local community as well are just invaluable. So the state government is currently developing a 10-year vision for arts and culture, which is expected to be released before the end of the year. What would this strategy be comprised of? That strategy is expected to act as a blueprint, I suppose, to guide the growth of the sector moving forward and essentially elevate WA's position within the international arts industry. I spoke to the chief executive of Black Swan State Theatre Company, Ian Booth, about this and he said the 10-year strategy could provide a strong long-term plan for sustainable growth. He said that the arts is a fundamental part of our society and that should be a given and shouldn't really be affected by the political party in power in our state. Ian went on to say that people want to learn about Western Australia, our stories, our history and our arts presents these things, our cultural events and experiences present these things and we really need cross-government recognition of this. According to Ian, that collaboration would enable the arts industry to not only grow in size and increase visitation but also to diversify and create new offerings and new opportunities for both the local community and visitors from beyond WA. So just staying on that 10-year arts and culture strategy in the lead-up to releasing that, the state government announced additional funding for the sector, so that's about almost $6 million over two years as part of the budget in May. So Black Swan was one of the recipients of this funding. What did the additional money mean for, I guess, not just the company but for the broader sector? To put simply, Ian said it illustrated the government's recognition of the value arts organisations had within the community. The arts organisation Black Swan, which is actually the 12th largest in WA, has received the same amount of state government funding over the past eight years despite costs increasing dramatically over that period of time. So this increase in additional funding has helped to raise Black Swan up amid those increasing pressures and Ian said the company also received a grant from Creative Australia, which has given an additional boost to his operations. Both of those dosages of funding will be delivered over 2025 and 2026, and Ian said the whole sector needed the ability to continue to meet those rising costs of doing business, while also acknowledging this was equally impacting audiences. So Ian said that Black Swan, they've kept their ticket prices at the same rate over the past few years, and the company has copped the increasing costs and thinning revenue margin because otherwise accessibility issues begin to arise. And in Ian's word, theatre is an art form everyone should be part of. Black Swan, like many other arts and cultural organisations in WA really want to avoid creating barriers for people to access arts. So moving back to just the sector, talking about the sector in general, there have been some challenges within it, but the WA Museum Bula Badep has had several wins in the past 12 months or so. Could you tell us more about this? Of course, so although we all know that international travel to WA has slowed down, the museum actually recorded a 20% increase in visitation in the 2024 financial year. So did the State Library of WA actually, and several other arts and cultural institutions have also seen a peak in visitation, showing that the industry has mostly bounced back post COVID-19. Of course, there are still lingering issues rippling from the pandemic. And when I spoke with WA Museum's chief executive, Alec Coles, he said the challenges are what they always are in arts and culture, but there is so much aspiration in the sector that he feels really positive about the future. He also said that the sector is at its most powerful when it works together. The museum, which is the biggest cultural organisation in Western Australia, one gold at the Perth Airport WA Tourism Awards, 2023, which was announced earlier this year, for major tourist attraction and cultural tourism. And it has really big projects on the horizon, including further investment in the digital and film environment, as well as expansion into virtual reality experiences and exhibitions. Overall, the arts and culture sector here in WA is on the brink of what could be significant growth on an international scale, but it really just needs a strategic plan installed by government and more investment and support from local community and business to achieve this. Wow, a very thorough look into the current issues and trends in WA's arts and culture sector. So, live story as part of the arts and culture feature is now online at businessnews.com.au or in the August 19th to September 1st edition of the Business News magazine. Thank you for listening and thank you, Liv, for joining me. Thank you. The latest business news, deliver daily. Subscribe and rate the show wherever you listen to your podcast. For all the latest business news, visit businessnews.com.au. [MUSIC PLAYING] [BLANK_AUDIO]