Comment by Peter Roberts The big announcement from Prime Minister Scott Morrison in Adelaide today – already leaked in advance to every major metropolitan newspaper – is not that Australia will spend $1 billion acquiring long-range missiles for Australian defence forces. That same announcement was made during the Eden-Monaro by-election and reported by @AuManufacturing at…
Australian Manufacturing Forum member Shane West saw the news headline that Christian Porter had been ‘demoted’ to the industry portfolio. Here he argues that this says it all about what is wrong with Australia today. The ministerial reshuffle fundamentally shows what is wrong with the Australian federal government – a disregard for Industry, Science and…
BAE Systems Australia announced today that it will invest an additional $5 million this year to speed the development of hypersonic weapons in Australia. The announcement, which follows a government commitment to develop a long-range strike capability, builds on more than $11 million spent on hypersonics and high speed weapon research in Australia in the…
Advertisement The Australian Manufacturing Forum and @AuManufacturing news today announces an addition to the value-added services services we offer to manufacturers. We have teamed up with trusted sector partners to provide assistance to companies wishing to access the federal government’s modern manufacturing initiative grants. We have done this as, like all government grant schemes, the…
Opposition leader Anthony Albanese will up the ante in the debate about the future of manufacturing, promising to establish a $15 billion reconstruction fund should it be returned at the next election. This comes mid-way through the rollout of the federal government’s manufacturing modernisation initiative – a tenth the value of Labor’s promise. At the…
Metal additive manufacturing company Titomic has teamed up with a Turkish supplier of manufacturing systems to establish gun barrel production in Australia. Titomic and Repkon Machine and Tool Industry and Trade Inc have formed a joint venture to build a production facility in Australia at an un-named location. It will manufacture ‘weapons systems barrels’ designed…
Leading wine producer Treasury Wine Estates, the maker of Penfolds wines, has lost its anti-dumping case brought by the Chinese government which has confirmed crippling import duties will apply to the company. The Chinese ministry of commerce issued a final determination in its anti-dumping and countervailing investigations into Australian wine exports to China, including Treasury.…
Perth international shipbuilder Austal Limited, best known for its aluminium vessels, has broken ground on a new steel shipbuilding facility alongside its naval shipyard in Mobile, Alabama. Funded through a loan from the US Department of Defence of US$50 million matched by company funds, the $131 million facility will prepare Austal to compete for new…
By Peter Roberts ASC which built and sustains Australia’s Collins Class submarines in Adelaide has embarked on an ambitious project to fully digitise its shipyard operations. It is not clear whether the investment in Adelaide and Perth will put an end end speculation that further major Collins sustainment work could be shifted to Western Australia.…
By Peter Roberts A patch of dirt in Dubbo, NSW and a lot of hard work are starting to pay off as a second Australian rare earths producer becomes a reality in the form of Australian Strategic Materials. In the past week ASM received firm commitments from sophisticated investors to raise $65 million to kick-start…
