Ross Vasta (Bonner, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise in the chamber today to speak in support of the Morrison government's commitment to building a strong and sustainable defence industry and ensuring Australian small businesses play an integral role in the future of our national and economic security. With a $200 billion investment in Australia's defence capability, we need to emphasise and encourage the involvement of Australian defence industry businesses to help create jobs for working Australians and boost the local economy in electorates like Bonner in South-East Queensland.

Currently, around 3,500 local Australian businesses are working to keep Australians safe and are creating new jobs through defence industry investment. In my electorate of Bonner, such investment is having a significant impact on local jobs, with total defence contributions surpassing $16 million. It's not only the manufacturing and construction industries that are benefiting from this spend but exciting new technological advancements, which are changing the way we look at keeping our country safe.

Late last year I visited a local business in my electorate called Skyborne Technologies, which had received a grant for defence industry capability. Skyborne Technologies used that grant to develop Cerberus, a lightweight multishot grenade launcher designed for use on drones and remote vehicles. This local business uses a combination of artificial intelligence and lightweight weaponised drone engineering to develop this device with capabilities for pinpoint precision strikes that drastically reduce collateral damage. This device provides air-force-level support and closes the margin of error to help defence drone operators make accurate decisions under pressure in the line of duty.

Another business in Bonner creating jobs and supporting defence industry is Teledyne Technologies. Thanks to a science and technology defence grant, this local business has developed vehicle mounted systems to combat improvised explosive devices, or IEDs, to help keep our defence personnel safe. At the moment the only way to detect these explosives requires soldiers to scan the environment on foot, which is very dangerous. Once finalised, this new device will attach to military vehicles to detect roadside IEDs using cutting-edge technology. This is a tremendous achievement and I'm so proud to share with the Chamber how local businesses in Bonner are developing new technologies to better protect our troops, who put their lives on the line for our country.

There are a number of other businesses in Bonner that have received defence industry grants to assist in the construction and management of services and the manufacturing of sophisticated radar and electronic warfare systems, as well as other military equipment. I've always encouraged businesses in my electorate to seek out these defence grants to help keep our country safe while also creating more jobs in the region. Next month we have the Land 400 phase 3, mounted close combat capability, roadshow in Brisbane, for local industry to pitch its capabilities to tenders to construct the Land 400 armoured vehicles. It is yet another exciting opportunity for local manufacturing and technology based businesses to get involved and to benefit from the Morrison government's investment in our defence industry.

The Morrison government's message to small businesses is that the Australian defence industry is clear: we need to support you. I'm very pleased to say that we have and we will continue to support these small businesses.

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