Business News - WA
At Close of Business podcast September 26 2024
Mark Beyer and Isabel Vieira discuss the challenges and opportunities in WA’s Indigenous business sector.
Plus all the latest on Stockland's $75m housing project; BHP's first mover deal with Caterpillar; and Paul King-backed Albany accommodation gets the nod.
- Broadcast on:
- 26 Sep 2024
- Audio Format:
- other
(upbeat music) All the latest business news from WA, deliver daily. At close of business, news briefing. - Good afternoon, and welcome to the Outclothes of Business podcast. I'm Sam Jones, and I'll be reading a Thursday headlines. Stockland will build more than 150 dwellings north of Perth, as part of a recently approved $75 million residential project. The Matrae Outer Development Assessment Panel, today unanimously approved Stockland's proposal to build an independent living complex on a 6.9 hectare site in San Agra. To be named Stockland Hulkyon Iliari, an estimated to cost $75 million to build, the complex comprises 150 dwellings, a clubhouse, and communal facilities. The complex will be targeted to over 55-year-olds who will reside in the residential dwellings under a land lease model. Under Stockland's land lease model, homes are sold to owner-occupiers at a discount to the homeowner's existing house price, which would allow downsizes to release equity from their family home. City of Wannaroo Councillor and doubt-membered Jacqueline Huttley said the complex would benefit residents in the city who are aiming to downsize or retire. And in resources, BHP will trial a new energy system designed by Caspella, which can power up whole trucks on the move at its jimble bar mine in the Pilbara. The system prototype comprises a telescopic arm attached to a whole truck, which extends out to touch a rail on the side of the whole road, which can transfer power from a fixed plant to the machinery. BHP will be the first move to use the system for its battery and diesel electric haul trucks at the jimble bar iron ore mine in the Pilbara, and at a copper mine in Chile. Caspella group president Denise Johnson said the trial would validate its technology before making it available to the broader market. The announcement was made at a Las Vegas trade show, which this week has proven a hotbed of activity for WA's mining and mine services companies. On Wednesday, Foursqu and labour signed a landmark $2.8 billion deal, which would deliver 475 autonomous electric mining machines to Foursqu sites by 2030. And finally, a $5 million proposal by tourism identity Paul King to develop a short-stay accommodation in Albany has been unanimously approved by planning authorities. A regional development assessment panel today considered a 24-bed tourist development on Frenchman Bay Road at the end of the tornadear up peninsula. The proposal was lodged by Taylor Burrell-Bummett on behalf of landowner Frenchman Bay Albany. Australian Securities and Investment Commission documents show that Hospitality Group managing director Paul King owns Frenchman Bay Albany. The development sits on the site of the former Frenchman Bay Caravan Park, which has been vacant since it closed in 2006. The proposal for the site includes a four-bedroom lodge, six two-story pods, eight retreat units, six climbing tents and a bushfire refuge. The city of Albany recommended a decision on the development be deferred to allow more detailed bushfire management plan to be prepared. That's it for today's headlines. You can read more at businessnews.com.au. Coming up on the podcast, Mark Byron is a Belvie Arab discussed challenges and opportunities in WA's indigenous business sector. Celebrate business leaders, entrepreneurs and trailblazers with business news events. With our flagship event series bespoke online events, webinars, book launches and Gala Rewards programs. Our forums showcase the policies and issues affecting Western Australia within industry and government. Our events are your platforms to engage and connect with the Western Australian business community. Visit businessnews.com.au/events for more information. Welcome back to the Outclothes of Business podcast. I'm Isabel Vieira and today I'm joined by Mark Baier. Mark, how you going? I'm very well, thank you. That's good. So Mark, for the latest edition of the Business News magazine, you've written a wrap up of the growth in WA's indigenous business sector. Tell us just how big is this sector? It's very large and growing very rapidly. So the data that I've assembled shows that the revenue amongst indigenous businesses in WA last financial year was at least $2.3 billion. There you go. So very significant. And I guess just as significant my data tells me that that has nearly tripled in size in the space of four years. So very substantial growth. And it sort of fits in with some data that I picked up from the University of Melbourne. They've got the Dylan Duwa Centre for Indigenous Business Leadership. According to their research, there's 957 registered Indigenous businesses in Western Australia, and that's nearly a quarter of the national total. Yeah, wow. There you go. And so tell us what's driving this growth? In short, the big mining companies up in the Pilbara. They've made a very significant commitment to focus on procuring goods and services from indigenous businesses. And this has been one of the major sources of data for me as part of their annual financial reporting suite. They actually disclose exactly how much they spend with indigenous businesses. Number one, Fortescue last financial year. They spent $600 and $85 million with indigenous businesses. Rio Tinto and BHP, not quite as big, but not far behind. Also, both the WA and Australian governments, they've got specific indigenous procurement programs. So they're a significant boost. It falls away pretty rapidly after that, but other companies like mineral resources and Pilbara minerals. They're looking to crank up how much they spend. Notably, most of the spending is up in the Pilbara. The gold fields are a lot less. And that sort of shows up with the gold mining companies. Their contribution is way less than the iron ore miners. And other sectors like energy, it's a very small spend compared to the big iron ore miners. Yeah, and this spend can also form part of internal targets for some of these miners, right, in terms of how much they want to spend over a certain amount of years. Yeah, most of them, the big ones, have actually set either dollar targets or percentage of Australian spend. So Fortescue, they've been a leader in this space and they've got targets to spend even more. There you go. And having said all that, there's still some debate around what constitutes an indigenous business. Can you run us through that? Yeah, look, the term black cladding comes up a lot in this space. So essentially, that's where typically, it's a joint venture structure, which purports to be an Aboriginal owned and led business. But in practice, it's run by the non-Aboriginal sort of party to the joint venture. You know, a good joint venture, it's all about sharing skills, expertise, knowledge, so that the indigenous people can build up a business of their own. Doesn't always work out that way. I've written a sort of an in-depth analysis around the issue. And I guess my take on it is that ownership of a business is just one factor. So whether it's 50% or 51% or some other number, that's just one factor, it's all about, you know, how many Aboriginal people does the business employ? What's their commitment to training? What do they reinvest back into their community? You know, these are all important considerations. And I've explored several examples there to give the readers a bit of an insight into what's very complex and really quite a fraught issue. Yeah, absolutely. And listeners who want to check out the full article and I do encourage them to do so, can check it out online at businessnews.com.au. Mark, thanks for joining us today. Very good. The latest business news delivered daily. Subscribe and rate the show. Where have you listened to your podcast? For all the latest business news, visit businessnews.com.au. [Music] (upbeat music) [BLANK_AUDIO]