Much has been written about the impacts the fade of the mining boom had on Western Australia’s economy.

The state’s housing market plummeted, mining companies rolled out mass redundancies, consumer confidence shrank and migration to Perth began to decline as workers returned to their home towns.

Perth's Joint Development Assessment Panel receives dozens of major development project applications each year, but not all make it to construction Credit:Stefan Gosatti

In the central business district, the impacts were seen in office vacancy rates and struggling hospitality and retail sectors.

But what about the impacts we can’t see, because they were never there?