"Company behaviours and people's behaviours, in some cases, [are] more important," she said.
New Sensation Homes, which was yesterday placed into liquidation citing rising costs and labour shortages, is another example of how economic pressures are taking their toll. As just one example of that reliance, mining accounted for 8.4 per cent of WA's employment in 2019/20. Nationally, that figure was closer to 2 per cent.
Dr Thomas also suggested using record surpluses to engage in economic reform, such as payroll tax to aid in that smoothing. "In mining we're diversifying a bit in that we're moving towards rare earth, and that's very good," Dr Thomas said."But we're not diversifying out of mining and that's the problem."
"While WA remained resilient during the COVID-19 pandemic, the state's lack of economic diversity has been exacerbated," the inquiry's chair, Peter Tinley, also wrote in the report."High iron ore prices and increased iron ore exports to China, coupled with significant disruption to other export industries – such as international education, tourism and primary industries – have meant that the state's diversification agenda has been significantly hampered.