By Peter Roberts Infrastructure minister Catherine King has announced the appointments to the Board of the High Speed Rail Authority after a ‘merit-based process. According to a statement: “This process has resulted in a Board comprising the appropriate skills, qualifications, knowledge and experience to best bring high-speed rail to reality.” While the new board is…
US sustainable packaging producer PakTech is to onshore manufacture of its secondary packaging made from 100 percent recycled high-density polyethylene (HDPE). The company announced today its official launch in Australia and news that it would service existing customers including Hawkers Brewery, Billson’s of Beechworth and The Apple Press as well as new customers with locally…
Carbon fibre road wheel manufacturer Carbon Revolution has released new forecasts for future sales and confirmed a path to a maiden profit in a turnaround for the company as it heads towards a US listing. The Geelong Victoria company suffered badly during Covid with its car maker customers pausing new wheel developments and even closing…
By Peter Roberts Perth international shipbuilder Austal has hosed down speculation that it could be involved in merger and acquisition activity or subject to takeover interest following a run on its shares. The Perth company’s shares closed on the ASX last night at $2.21, having risen steadily from $1.60 in mid-May, a rise of more…
The Australian manufacturing landscape is littered with the remnants of once-great manufacturers that abandoned local manufacturing and took to importing. To finance types no doubt this offshoring path seemed like a good idea at the time, but in practice these companies have mostly gradually faded from view. One such manufacturing icon – and here icon…
The new kid on the rare earths block Arafura Rare Earths is underway with early works construction at its Nolans rare earths project, 135 kilometres from Alice Springs in the Northern Territory. According to a recent update, Arafura is advancing enabling works and equipment procurement including sulphanation bake and cooler units, funded by its successful…
Edge computer manufacturer Spiral Blue has announced what it calls a major breakthrough in the field of space-based Earth observation (EO). The company released operational data from successfully running proprietary artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms in space, ‘opening up new horizons for AI-powered advancements in monitoring and understanding our planet’. This comes after making history in…
Concentrated solar power (CSP) developer Vast Solar today announced it has awarded Australian engineering firm Worley key engineering contracts for its VS1 CSP project being built at Port Augusta in mid-northern South Australia. VS1 is a 30MW / 288 MWh CSP plant being built in Port Augusta and utilising Vast’s proprietary modular tower CSP v3.0…
Since 2000, global investment in research and development (R&D) has tripled to $2.4 trillion and, as Australia’s innovation effort has faltered, the top countries just keep on going further and further ahead. The infographic, from Visual Capitalist, ranks the world’s most innovative economies using data from the UN’s WIPO Global Innovation Index. What Defines an…
By Peter Roberts Occasionally a Senator provides a powerful demonstration of the value of Senate Estimates hearings to lay bare the inconsistencies and contradictions that prevent governments from achieving their aims. Last week we witnessed just such a seminal performance by South Australian Liberal Senator David Fawcett who calmly and methodically uncovered the gulf between…
