Tribute to Wild West pioneers

Shane Pitt talks up the often forgotten economic miracle of Tassie’s West Coast

YOU may not realise it, but the heart of Tasmania’s economy is not the state capital, with its army of public servants and corporate headquarters.

Nor is it in Launceston, which for years has been supported by Tasmania’s rich agricultural potential and small business ethic.

No, the heart of Tasmania’s economy is in the West Coast.

Right now, most of Tasmania’s exports are from the West Coast. In fact, of the $4.2 billion of exports from Tasmania over the 12 months to August, over 60 per cent came from the West Coast.

And this isn’t a recent phenomenon either. The West Coast has been driving the state’s economic fortunes for the better part of 150 years. Regardless of what’s happening in Launceston or Hobart, if the West is going well, the state benefits.

The West Coast is an economic powerhouse because it is home to many of Tasmania’s competitive advantages. Rich in minerals, superb forests, a base for aquaculture and home to unparalleled renewable energy options, everything that Tasmania does better than anywhere else is generally based in the West.

Industries that thrive here support jobs around the state — from port operations at Port Latta to salmon hatcheries in the Huon, to mining inspectors in Burnie, Hydro engineers in Hobart and boat builders in St Helens. The supply chains and labour needed to support industries in the West provide jobs and support the economies of many communities to our east.

I have no doubt in time we will overtake other areas of the state with our tourism and hospitality industries too. We’re already laying the groundwork, with ambitious festivals like the Unconformity (sadly cancelled due to the Covid lockdown) and worldbeating mountain bike tracks that will more than rival the other more established tracks around the world.

We’re proud of what we have achieved as a region and we have ambitious plans for the future.

I think one reason the West Coast community has such longevity and has been able to contribute so much to the state is because we have been able to manage a very delicate balance.

Recently I saw a comment on social media that neatly sums it up. In a discussion about the Rosebery mine and the proposed new tailings dam, a person asked why the Rosebery mine was built so close to the town.

I think it’s a perfect example of the different types of thinking in the community and how some people don’t appreciate the balance we’ve found on the West Coast.

The point we are keen to impress is our communities were deliberately built around these industries. Rosebery was built because the mine was there, not the other way around. Strahan emerged initially to support mining and forestry around Macquarie Harbour and now supports the salmon and tourism industries.

Over the past century, the West Coast has been all about maintaining a very fragile balance between nature and development, progress and tradition and isolation and opportunity.

In fact, there are plenty of ghost towns dotted up and down the West Coast that failed because they couldn’t find the right balance.

Nowadays we are managing the balance between emerging industries like tourism and aquaculture. In the case of Macquarie Harbour, they have existed side-by-side for decades and, rather than being mutually exclusive, have actually grown together and supported each other.

This is in stark contrast to other areas of the state, where communities would never accept a mix of industries operating together, sometimes right next to one another.

We have built our communities around these industries. We are proud of that, and you should be too. We respect our region, and we want to leave it in better shape than we found it for the next generation of West Coast pioneers. It’s the land and the landscape that have given us these opportunities after all. We’re creating decent jobs for our people, supporting our local communities and injecting life into the state’s economy.

We should all be proud of what we have managed to achieve on the West Coast, and we want everyone, including the Tasmanian government, to support us so we can continue to drive the state’s economy for the next 150 years.