The state government has unveiled a new plan to strengthen Tasmania’s position in the rapidly growing defence industry.
Premier Jeremy Rockliff announced the Tasmanian Defence Industries Strategy 2029 on Tuesday during a visit to Burnie’s Jayben Group.
Over half a billion dollars in defence contracts have been awarded to Tasmanian companies in the past five years alone.
“It’s extraordinary the number of businesses, some 60 businesses, that are involved in the defence industry in Tasmania right now,” Rockliff said.
“And that has tripled over the course of the last seven years.”
The strategy focuses on building on Tasmania’s existing strengths, attracting new investment and driving innovation in research and development.
“We want to tap into domestic and international defence market opportunities in areas where we have competitive advantages such as maritime, specialist vehicles manufacture, space domain awareness and space life sciences,” Rockliff said.
Tasmania’s defence advocate Steve Gilmore said the industry supports about 150 direct jobs and a variety of indirect roles across the state.
“We’re looking at how to bring in other capabilities that we generate within the state,” he said, pointing to aerospace and cyber capabilities.
“To this point in time we’ve focused on a lot of maritime related capabilities which are second to none and are continuing to evolve now land-based capabilities.”
