By John Blaxland, Australian National University The United States’ shooting down of a Chinese spy balloon off the coast of South Carolina over the weekend points to international security affairs being on a knife edge. It follows a surge in crises and tensions over the past few years, including Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, prompting the…
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The Ai Group’s newly launched Australian Industry Index has taken a big fall in December/January 2023, dropping 10.5 points to minus 11.6 points. (Negative scores indicate contraction.) This score indicates an acceleration of contraction in the industries covered by the index and is the ninth month of contraction since May 2022, according to Ai Group.…
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It is not often that you see a photograph of a cute little marsupial in @AuManufacturing’s news pages. But this little fella, a ground-dwelling marsupial a Golden Bandicoot, has been the beneficiary of a huge conservation project in outback New South Wales featuring Australian-made fencing. For over 100 years the InfraBuild Newcastle site at Mayfield,…
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Australia set to pass 100,000 electric vehicles New research by the Electric Vehicle Council has shown Australia on track to soon pass a milestone of 100,000 electric vehicles, with more than 83,000 EVs estimated to be on the country’s roads now. The research in the Australian Electric Vehicle Industry Recap 2022, also found that of the…
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The federal government has announced a review of defence industry policy, and is also close to making an announcement on its selection of Australia’s future nuclear powered submarines. At the same time relations with China are in the news. Here Sarah Pavillard looks at the opportunities opening up for defence industry. Major announcements will come…
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Magnis Energy Technologies appears to have walked back on its plans, once vigorously promoted, to build a lithium-ion mega factory in Townsville, Queensland. As recently as 2020 Magnis had reaffirmed its commitment to construct a $2 billion, 18GWh lithium-ion battery mega factory in three stages. However since then it appears to have focussed on the…
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Dovetail Electric Aviation began in 2021 and is chasing a market estimated at $US 15 billion for retrofitting electric propulsion systems onto small airplanes. Brent Balinski spoke to co-founder Rachael Barritt about their story so far. A bit over two years ago, this website reported with sadness that MagniX – an Australian-born world-leader in electric…
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Advanced manufacturing had a high representation among the latest round of projects supported through the Australian Research Council Linkage program. Funds totalling $40 million for 81 new projects were announced under the program on Tuesday. By “Science and Research Priorities” areas, 20 Advanced Manufacturing projects were awarded funding (out of 49 considered), more than any…
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Australian maritime trade unions have called on the federal government to commit to building six conventionally powered submarines locally to protect Australia’s sovereign defence capability as we transition to a nuclear submarine fleet in the 2040s. The Australian Shipbuilding Federation of Unions (ASFU) national convenor Glenn Thompson (pictured) warned that the nuclear submarines promised under…
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Reproductive biotechnology company Memphasys is racking up expert opinion backing the efficacy of its Felix device for improving the outcomes of IVF procedures. Male infertility is a big factor in failure of IVF treatments, with sperm quality rather than quantity the key issue. The Felix device uses an electric force and polymer membranes to separate…
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