Today’s signing of a Memorandum of Understanding between Thales Australia and the Australian Maritime College at Pacific 2019 is a major step towards realising Tasmania’s new Maritime Defence Innovation and Design Precinct.
This agreement will see Thales Australia establish a presence at the precinct, and builds on the joint commitment to establish a state-of-the-art trials and test facility for submarine and surface ship sonar systems using Tasmania’s deep, cold and acoustically quiet lakes.
The Tasmanian Liberal Government is committed to growing our defence supply industries and opening up new markets for our local businesses to create even more jobs and investment.
The agreement is another important step in securing a larger slice of Australia’s $90 billion long-term national naval shipbuilding program.
With the Commonwealth Government already committing $30 million towards the Precinct as part of the Launceston City Deal, having one of the world’s largest defence contractors as a key partner further cements our place in the national defence sector.
The world-class Precinct will create more than 150 ongoing jobs in Northern Tasmania and transform Newnham into a prime defence learning and innovation hub.
AMC is already recognised as a significant training, research and development partner of the National Shipbuilding College, and today’s agreement with Thales will open up more opportunities for the Precinct to grow and engage more Tasmanian businesses in defence supply.