Update: June 25 event gains guests from Quickstep, Harvest B for an important “missing middle” conversation

Manufacturing News

New guests have been added to @AuManufacturing‘s upcoming Spotlight on Scaling Up event, with Quickstep Acting CEO Demi Stefanova and Harvest B Co-founder and Chief Commercial Officer Alfred Lo announced as panellists. Stefanova and Lo, leaders from a composites specialist and food technology startup respectively, will appear in conversation with Advanced Manufacturing Growth Centre Chair Paul…

Manufacturing news briefs — stories you might have missed

Manufacturing News

Foundations laid for Australia’s first liquid hydrogen flight test programs AMSL Aero and Stralis Aircraft, two Australian companies that are developing hydrogen-powered aircraft, have successfully registered a family of liquid hydrogen tanks. According to a statement from AMSL Aero on Monday, the tanks will be used for refuelling and enabling zero-emission flights, are known as “Dewar vessels”, and…

Robot submarines reveal coral catastrophe at Australia’s southernmost reef

Manufacturing News

Tiny underwater robots have captured devastating footage of coral bleaching at one of the world’s most remote reefs, exposing a hidden environmental crisis off the West Australian coast. Advanced Navigation’s micro submarines, called Hydrus, surveyed Hall Bank reef near Fremantle in June, revealing a barren seafloor littered with pale, lifeless corals at the unusual latitude…

Trump’s steel tariffs are unlikely to have a big impact on Australia. But we could be hurt by what happens globally

Analysis and Commentary, Manufacturing News

By Scott French, UNSW Sydney Just one day after the US Court of Appeals temporarily reinstated the Trump Administration’s Liberation Day tariffs of between 10 per cent and 50 per cent on nearly every country in the world, Trump announced tariffs on all US imports of steel and aluminium will increase from 25 per cent…

Lovells gains post-registration modification approval for vehicle GCM revisions in WA

Manufacturing News

Lovells Automotive Systems has become the first local Second Stage Manufacturer (SSM) to gain approval for the fitment of its Australian designed and engineered suspension enhancements for post registration Gross Combination Mass (GCM) revisions under new Western Australian laws. According to a statement from Lovells on Tuesday, WA’s new legislation brings the state in line…

The restless portfolio: How Australia’s bureaucratic reshuffling reveals a crisis of industrial vision

Analysis and Commentary

Australia’s approach to industry policy over the past six decades tells a story of remarkable institutional restlessness. By Dr John H Howard. Between 1963 and 2025, the federal industry portfolio has been reorganised approximately 20 times—a major restructure roughly every three years. This extraordinary pattern of bureaucratic instability reveals far more than administrative tinkering; it…