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 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 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.

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.