By Peter Roberts The federal government has continued its all but daily announcements of new defence contracts and grants to manufacturers with the news today that Tomago, NSW engineering group Varley will receive a $41 million contract for deployable military infrastructure. According to a statement from defence minister Peter Dutton: “The contract is part of…
Details
Canberra-based modular data centre maker Datapod has been awarded a $12 million order from the federal government, described as a boost for the nation’s sovereign industrial capability.
Details
By Peter Roberts If covid-19 has taught us anything it is that Australia needs to be more self sufficient in what we manufacture onshore and depend less on globalised supply chains that are easily interrupted by accident or design. For advanced nations there is a range of rare earths that are essential to high tech…
Details
The federal government has announced the cancellation of the planned purchase of the SkyGuardian long endurance armed unmanned aerial system (UAS) to allow for a boost to the Australian Defence Force’s cyber capabilities. Defence associate secretary Matt Yannopoulos told Senate estimates that the purchase of the General Atomics MQ-9B SkyGuardian (pictured) under project AIR 7003…
Details
Frucor Suntory to build $400m factory Beverage manufacturer Frucor Suntory is to build a $400 million facility in Swanbank, Queensland with support from the Queensland government. Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said: “The value of attracting this investment to Queensland will have significant benefits for our economic recovery and most importantly, it will create new jobs for…
Details
Industrial process technology company Calix and Pilbara Minerals will establish a joint venture to potentially develop a demonstration plant to produce lithium phosphate salt to supply battery chemicals manufacturing. This follows positive results from their joint scoping study for a lithium salt production facility using Calix technology at Pilbara’s existing spodumene concentrate plant (pictured) at…
Details
Tuesday night’s federal budget confirmed the Morrison government will spend A$50.3 million on gas projects in the Northern Territory, South Australia and the east coast.
Details
CEC delists Msquare Energy – no longer eligible for solar rebate Tindo Solar, Australia’s only manufacturer of solar panels, has praised the renewables regulator for delisting solar products that do not live up to their claims. The Clean Energy Council announced last week that “all PV modules of Msquare Energy Pty Ltd will be delisted…
Details
Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison has agreed to send Australian-made Bushmaster vehicles to Ukraine, after a plea from the nation’s wartime President. Earlier Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy made a speech to federal parliament calling for Australia to send the country weapons systems including the Bushmaster. Speaking through an interpreter the khaki-clad president said some of…
Details
The Western Australian government has announced that Sunshot Energy will be awarded “up to $1 million” through the Collie Futures Industry Development Fund to begin a feasibility study into a new green energy hub.
Details