AUSTRALIAN+NEW ZEALAND DEFENCE DIRECTORY 2025 www.defence.directory 28 Australia’s defence industry is essential to our national security and a key sector of the Australian economy. I firmly believe 2024 will come to be seen as the year Australia came to terms with the changes in our strategic environment and charted a path to a more secure future, underpinned by a strong and sovereign defence industrial base. The National Defence Strategy (NDS) released by the Government earlier this year outlines a new approach to the defence of Australia that involves shifting the Australian Defence Force (ADF) to an integrated, focused force that is designed and equipped to address our most significant strategic risks. These foundational reforms are backed by a generational investment in our nation’s defence, including $330 billion for the rebuilt Integrated Investment Program (IIP) over the decade to 2033-34. The Defence Industry Development Strategy (DIDS) establishes the framework and principles for the defence industry policy we need to deliver the goals of the NDS and IIP. For the first time, an Australian Government has articulated the strategic rationale for a sovereign defence industrial base and outlined a master plan to deliver it. Australia’s national security requires a strong and sovereign defence industrial base that includes businesses of all sizes. More than 100,000 workers rely on Australia’s defence industry for their livelihoods, and the DIDS establishes a focused plan of action to develop and grow the industrial base we need to support a strong and sustainable ADF. Prioritisation is at the heart of the Government’s strategy. We have focused on supporting the development of what we need here in Australia, and provided industry with information it needs to prepare, invest and deliver on the development, production and sustainment of Defence capabilities. Unlike the priorities of the past, the Sovereign Defence Industrial Priorities (SDIPs) outlined in the DIDS have both a capability manager and delivery manager whose job it is to ensure they are healthy and being supported. The DIDS includes actions to tackle the most critical issues that defence industry is grappling with, from upskilling and growing the workforce to uplifting security and boosting the resilience of supply chains. Many of these require a whole-of-government effort, and Defence is working across government and with the states and territories to deliver a coherent and coordinated response. We understand that industry needs support to respond to these challenges, and to deliver that support we have established a streamlined Defence Industry Development Grants program with $150 million in funding. The grant program has been designed to help small to medium-sized businesses grow their capacity to contribute to the delivery of the SDIPs, pursue export opportunities, upskill their workforce and strengthen security. At the same time, we are also ensuring that Defence becomes a better customer by reforming procurement processes to make it easier, faster and more cost-effective for industry to compete for and secure Defence contracts. The diminishing of Australia’s strategic warning time makes speed to capability essential to delivering Defence’s mission. The Government has decided to accelerate major defence capability acquisitions to meet these strategic challenges. Record amounts of funding are flowing from Defence into Australian defence industry as a result, and employment within the sector is growing. For instance, we are accelerating production of the cutting-edge Ghost Shark program, which will provide Navy with a long-range autonomous vehicle that will deliver a cost-effective and persistent intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance and strike undersea capability. The Government is co-investing an additional $20.1 million alongside Anduril Australia, which will contribute to scaling the sovereign supply chain and building the requisite infrastructure to transition the Ghost Shark program from prototype development to production. This early works contract will facilitate investment into the Australian industry supply chain so it can grow and scale alongside Anduril Australia. As many as 42 Australian companies are part of the Ghost Shark supply chain. Our largest capability projects, from delivering a larger and more lethal surface combatant fleet to implementing AUKUS, are also being accelerated, and Australian industry is at the centre of our plans. In January, the Government announced its plan to begin manufacturing Guided Multiple Launch Rocket System missiles from 2025. This is an important step in deepening our Guided Weapons and Explosive Ordnance enterprise, by facilitating the transfer of technical data from the US and building the technical skills of the Australian workforce. In February, we released our blueprint for a larger and more lethal surface combatant fleet for the Royal Australian Navy. Our commitment to Navy’s future fleet guarantees the future of continuous naval shipbuilding in Australia by providing a stable and ongoing pipeline of work to the 2040s and beyond. We’ve committed to build six Hunter Class Frigates in South Australia, and in June we cut the first piece of steel for the first frigate in the class. This kicks off the construction phase of the Hunter Class Frigate Program that will run for 20 years. At its peak, this program will support around 3,000 direct jobs and a further 5,000 indirect jobs across the Australian supply chain. Australian small and medium sized enterprises have already been contracted to supply materials, equipment and parts like valves, MINISTERIAL FOREWORD
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