Broomehill-Tambellup Infrastructure Projects, WA

A small wheatbelt council with a farm-led economy and a current transport program centred on agricultural freight efficiency and road safety.

Economic base

Broomehill-Tambellup is a very small regional council with 1,117 residents in 2025 and a labour force of 606 in 2026 Q1. Its economy is clearly farm-led. In the 2021 Census, 52.36% of employed residents worked in agriculture, forestry and fishing, far ahead of education and training at 9.44%, health care and social assistance at 6.87%, and public administration and safety at 5.79%. That mix points to a local economy driven primarily by broadacre farming and the services needed to support a dispersed rural population rather than by large industrial or visitor sectors. Median age was 41, median household income was $1,366 a week, and labour market conditions were relatively firm with unemployment at 3.1%.

Business counts reinforce that agricultural character. By June 2025 there were 232 registered businesses in the council, including 138 in agriculture, forestry and fishing and 54 employing agriculture businesses. Outside farming, the business base was small: 10 registered transport, postal and warehousing businesses, 7 construction businesses, 6 manufacturing businesses and 3 wholesale trade businesses. This suggests local economic activity depends heavily on farm production, farm servicing and freight movement rather than on a broad commercial base. Population growth was modest at 1.1% in 2025, with net internal migration at 0, indicating that current demand conditions are steady rather than rapidly expanding. Non-residential building approvals were also limited at $199.6k over the latest 12 months, which is consistent with a small stock of commercial and institutional development activity.

Current project program

The current named project program is concentrated in transport. Broomehill-Tambellup has two named projects with printed values, totalling $375m, but only one is active. The active work is the $200m Agricultural Supply Chain Improvements (ASCI) project, listed by Infrastructure Australia as in construction from October 2022. The project emphasis is notable because it is the only current named project in the council and it sits directly in the transport and logistics category. In practical terms, the council’s present infrastructure story is not a broad building or utilities schedule; it is a focused freight-access and road network program.

Completed work should be treated separately. The other named project is Regional Road Safety Upgrades, a $175m transport project recorded as completed in January 2025. Its completion means the current program has narrowed to one major transport job rather than two concurrent works. The mix matters because it indicates continuity in road-related investment, but not an extensive multi-sector schedule across civic buildings, utilities or social infrastructure. With non-residential approvals at $199.6k and no other named active projects in the evidence, the present local works profile appears dominated by external transport investment rather than by a broad uplift in local building activity.

Economic connections

The clearest connection between the economy and the active project program is freight access for agriculture. With more than half of employed residents working in agriculture and 138 registered agriculture businesses, road and supply-chain performance are material local issues. The ASCI project’s name and transport classification support an interpretation that it aligns with the needs of a farm-based district where grain, livestock and farm inputs depend on reliable road links and efficient movement through the supply chain. In that context, transport upgrades could improve the efficiency and resilience of agricultural freight task movement, even though the evidence provided does not specify individual assets or measured outcomes inside the council area.

The completed road safety program connects through network reliability and everyday access rather than through a broader economic diversification story. Regional Road Safety Upgrades align with safer rural travel for residents, service providers and freight operators using local and regional roads. That is relevant in a small council with dispersed services, modest local business depth and a small transport business base, where road access supports farm servicing, schooling, health access and connections to larger trade centres outside the LGA. However, the current evidence does not support stronger claims about business growth, housing demand or major industry expansion from these works alone.

Outlook

The near-term outlook is tied more to execution of the active transport job than to a broad change in the economic base. Agriculture is likely to remain the dominant local driver given its large employment share and business presence, while the project list remains narrow and transport-specific. Population change was only 12 people, or 1.1%, in 2025, and net internal migration was flat, so there is little evidence here of a rapidly changing demand profile. The labour market is comparatively tight, which can support local incomes, but it can also constrain delivery capacity in small places when project work competes for contractors and trades.

What to watch is whether transport investment is followed by more evidence of local enabling activity. Useful indicators are the status of ASCI as it moves through construction, any additions to the named project list beyond transport, and whether non-residential approvals lift from the current $199.6k level. If approvals remain low and the project list stays narrow, the council is likely to retain its current profile: a small agricultural district supported by road-based connectivity rather than one undergoing broad physical expansion. If transport works are completed and maintained, that would still be consistent with a stable, serviceable farm economy even without a larger local building program.

Key takeaways

• Broomehill-Tambellup’s economy is overwhelmingly agricultural: 52.36% of employed residents worked in agriculture in 2021, and the council had 138 registered agriculture businesses in June 2025.
• The current named works program is highly concentrated, with one active project only: the $200m Agricultural Supply Chain Improvements project in construction, plus one completed $175m road safety project.
• The strongest supported mechanism is transport: freight access and safer regional roads align with the needs of a small farm district, while broader building activity remains modest at $199.6k in latest annual non-residential approvals.

Sources

• Estimated resident population — ABS Regional Population
• Labour force — Small Area Labour Markets
• Unemployment rate — Small Area Labour Markets
• Agriculture, forestry and fishing — ABS Census 2021
• Registered businesses, Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing — ABS Counts of Australian Businesses
• Non-residential building approvals, latest 12 months — ABS Building Approvals
• Education and training — ABS Census 2021
• Health care and social assistance — ABS Census 2021
• Public administration and safety — ABS Census 2021
• Median age — ABS Census 2021
• Median household income (weekly) — ABS Census 2021
• Registered businesses — ABS Counts of Australian Businesses
• Employing businesses, Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing — ABS Counts of Australian Businesses
• Registered businesses, Transport, Postal and Warehousing — ABS Counts of Australian Businesses
• Registered businesses, Construction — ABS Counts of Australian Businesses
• Registered businesses, Manufacturing — ABS Counts of Australian Businesses
• Registered businesses, Wholesale Trade — ABS Counts of Australian Businesses
• Population change — ABS Regional Population
• Net internal migration — ABS Regional Population
• Agricultural Supply Chain Improvements (ASCI) — Infrastructure Australia
• Regional Road Safety Upgrades — Infrastructure Australia
• Population change — ABS Regional Population
• Non-residential building approvals versus this council's own three-year average, weighted by the value of those approvals — ABS Building Approvals