South East Queensland West

The SEQ West region covers the local government areas of Ipswich City Council, Lockyer Valley, Scenic Rim and Somerset Regional Councils as well as the Brisbane City Council suburbs south of the Brisbane River. This diverse region is forecast to be one of the state’s fastest growing regions with the population predicted to double over the next 20 years. This strong population growth combined with a large supply of future industrial land will result in significant medium to long term job creation. Agriculture, manufacturing, defence and transport are expected to remain strong contributors to the regional economy.

Population

323,119 (June 2018) – projected to increase to 635,507 by 2036.

Employment

Labour force 160,833 (unemployment rate 6.5% March 2019)

Note – figures exclude Brisbane City Council suburbs south of the Brisbane River.

Strengths

• Ipswich is the fastest growing city in Queensland
• Springfield the largest master planned city in Australia
• construction of Rheinmetall’s MILVEHCOE
• expansion of the RAAF Base Amberley to be Australia’s largest defence logistics hub
• Lockyer Valley, Australia’s most important food bowl
• Scenic Rim’s tourism and agriculture scene
• advanced manufacturing

Main industries

• agriculture
• health care and social assistance
• manufacturing
  • food product
  • metal product
  • chemical, cleaning and polymer
  • transport equipment and parts
  • technical equipment and appliance
  • non-metallic mineral product
  • saw mill, wood and paper product
  • beverage product
  • pharmaceutical product
• education and training
• construction
• defence
• transport
• retail trade
• tourism
• accommodation and food services
• property services

Key projects

• Kalfresh regional food processing precinct
• Brisbane Valley protein precinct
• construction of inland rail