WA is now ground zero of the mining bust

Thursday 8 December 2016

The resources boom was once the work-horse driving the Australian economy forward through the post-Global Financial Crisis period, helped in no small measure by the huge surge in mining-related capital expenditures (capex).

However, since 2013, mining capex has been in free fall (see next chart), causing clear headwinds for the mining jurisdictions of Western Australia, Queensland and the Northern Territory.

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About the author

Leith van Onselen is Chief Economist at the MB Fund and MB Super. He is also a co-founder of MacroBusiness. Leith has previously worked at the Australian Treasury, Victorian Treasury and Goldman Sachs.