This is not to imply that biotech firms are having all the fun in Australia. On May 23, 2005, Canada-based Alcan Inc. announced a CDN$2 billion (US$1.6 billion) expansion of its Australian Alumina Refinery in a remote region of Australia's Northern Territory.
      The expansion will create 1,700 construction jobs over the next 30 months and another 120 permanent jobs on the Gove Peninsula, while almost doubling output from 2 million tons per year to 3.8 million tons.
      In November 2004, Texas-based Kimberly-Clark announced a US$250 million redevelopment of its tissue mill in Millicent in South Australia, a project that will expand the company's work force there to more than 600.
      "Within any global company there is always great competition for which countries receive capital for expansion," said Wayne Jones, CEO of Kimberly-Clark Australia. "South Australia provides a healthy environment for development and for the potential at the Millicent Mill."
      Another major project was announced in March 2004, when Pittsburgh-based Alcoa said it would spend $440 million expanding its aluminum plant in Pinjarra.
      Robert Hunt, senior investment commissioner in North America for Invest Australia, says that capital investments like those above will be facilitated by the new free trade agreement between America and Australia, which went into effect in January 2005.
      "This trade agreement will have a broad impact on trade of manufactured goods between the two countries," says Hunt. "About 90 percent of all manufactured goods traded between the U.S. and Australia are now duty-free. You will see a greater volume of business because of this pact. It will make Australia a more attractive location for American manufacturers seeking to ship products or raw materials to Australia. It basically makes it cheaper to move products and materials around."
      Hunt says the trade agreement — the most complex ever signed by the U.S. — even extends to drug approvals. "In the biotech and pharmaceutical area, the aim of this agreement is to bring the approval process in the two countries closer together," he says. "The [U.S.] FDA and Australia will mutually recognize drug and therapy approvals."
      In other words, expect to see more corporate approvals of American high-tech investment in the Land Down Under.