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Jobs at heart of defence industry plan

Posted December 15, 2020

The Hunter class frigate. Naval shipbuilding is one of the priority areas identified in South Australia’s Defence Sector Plan 2030.

Jobs are at the heart of South Australia’s new Defence Sector Plan 2030, launched by Premier Steven Marshall this week.

Defence is one of the high-growth focus sectors at Lot Fourteen, along with space, hi-tech (including cyber security and machine learning), and creative industries, which all build on South Australia’s inherent strengths. Lot Fourteen is the home of the Defence and Space Landing Pad, the Defence Teaming Centre and companies which supply to defence, including Leonardo Australia and Cryoclock. Lot Fourteen also has companies and organisations in related sectors, including the Australian Space Agency, the Smart Sat CRC, the Australian Cyber Collaboration Centre, and the Australian Institute for Machine Learning.

Between now and 2030, the state’s key naval shipbuilding projects are set to create more than 4000 direct shipbuilding jobs in South Australia, with thousands more in adjacent and support industries, such as those based at Lot Fourteen.

Information warfare is also a key pillar of the strategy, which will push South Australia forward as the nation’s information warfare centre point.

Premier Steven Marshall says the plan lays out how South Australia will rise to the challenge of supporting as many defence jobs as it can, while also capitalising on defence capability, investment in the state, and supply chain opportunities for the next decade, and beyond.

“The $90 billion investment from the Federal Government is creating an unprecedented pipeline of jobs, and business opportunities right here in South Australia for decades to come,” he says.

“South Australia has state-of-the art local capabilities and skills across the defence and space sectors and we are leaving no stone unturned in delivering the skilled workforce required to ensure the ongoing success of the defence industry in SA.

Extensive consultation identified eight defence industry priority areas across the next decade to ensure South Australia’s defence industry is primed to support the nation’s sovereign capability, as well as the state’s economy: naval shipbuilding; Information warfare; business climate; trade; investment; workforce and skills; research, development and innovation; and infrastructure.

Minister for Trade and Investment Stephen Patterson says South Australia is leading the way in innovation and future defence requirements, home to a growing cyber workforce and world-class industry capable of solving complex problems.

He says the state government is working to identify export opportunities for local industry within specific market requirements and in global supply chains.

Defence SA Chief Executive Richard Price says with ship and boat manufacturing currently representing 22% of the defence sector’s composition and contribution to gross state product, the shipbuilding industry is driving investment and playing a major role in South Australia’s economic transformation.

The Defence State Sector Plan is available here: https://www.growthstate.sa.gov.au/sectors

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