By Alexander May Over the past few years, the ongoing effects of globalisation have changed the manufacturing landscape in Australia, resulting in increased offshoring and importing. This has led to Australia ranking near the bottom in the OECD for manufacturing self-sufficiency, due to a significant amount of manufactured equipment and goods being sourced from overseas.…
Uncrewed surface vessel (USV) manufacturer Ocius has christened the last of five USV’s it is building under a $3 million Defence innovation contract. The Bluey, Brizo and Beacon were christened at the company’s factory on the UNSW Randwick Campus. Attending the ceremony were RADM Pete Quinn, Senator Holly Hughes standing in for Hon Melissa Price…
By Joseph Brookes The New South Wales government will commit nearly half a billion dollars in today’s budget to the uptake of electric vehicles, including limited $3,000 rebates and the removal of stamp duty on some new cars. The reforms will bring down the cost of a new electric vehicle by as much as $5,500…
Our series – Equipping Australia’s armed forces – continues today with a focus on deepening relationships between defence prime contractors and relatively small Australian SMEs. Peter Roberts profiles Lockheed Martin Australia and Varley Group. It is easy to trace back the increasing complexity of relationships between foreign prime contractors and local SME suppliers to a…
Yesterday Shane West outlined the massive challenge facing Australia to reach net zero emissions by 2050, given the state of the solar PV industry post Covid. Here he maps out how to resurrect our solar PV manufacturing sector. After the close of the Sydney Olympics in 2000, the Chinese Government turned to the then Australian…
Achieving net zero carbon emissions by 2050 is a credible target, but if it is to be achieved with local manufactured solar PV cells we need to mobilise the research and manufacturing sector as never before. Here Shane West us of the early history of solar cell production in Australia and the future demand to…
By Peter Roberts It is easy to be distressed if you dwell too long on some of the facts around how our food is produced – unethical livestock conditions and farming practices that can strip the land of its soil and vegetation. But in Western Australia a small company that promotes regenerative agricultural techniques that…
Our series – Equipping Australia’s armed forces – continues today with a focus on new materials and technologies for the battlefield. Here Peter Roberts interviews Philippe Odouard. Polyethylene seems a rather mundane word coming from Philippe Odouard who has long been associated with advanced materials, first leading composites manufacturer Quickstep and now as managing director…
Skykraft completes first spacecraft Smallsat manufacturer SkyKraft has released a picture (below) of its first spacecraft nearing completion and preparing to move to AITC, Mt Stromlo, for testing. SkyKraft, a spin-off from the University of New South Wales Canberra, plans a satellite constellation for space-based Air Traffic Management services with operations commencing in 2023. Meanwhile…
Twenty organisations have shared $4 million in Moon to Mars Demonstrator Feasibility grants supporting projects ranging from university testing facilities to the development of a Lunar Construction Rover and an in-space chemical thruster. The grants will help transform concepts into space products and services, building an ecosystem of companies supporting the Australian Space Agency’s $150…
