Defence Industry Minister Pat Conroy speaks at Mulwala press conference.
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00:00 This is at the heart of the Australian Defence Industry.
00:03 Malala and Benalla are critical to the defence of the nation.
00:06 It is here that we produce the propellant and the explosives and down the road at Benalla
00:12 the projectiles that the men and women of the Australian Defence Force need to protect
00:17 our nation.
00:19 And this facility is so advanced that not only does it produce for the Australian Defence
00:23 Force, it exports around the world, including to the United States.
00:28 The quality here is so high that it's actually the standard in the United States for special
00:33 munitions.
00:34 That's a great testament to the workforce, the company and the community here today.
00:39 And that's why I'm proud to announce a further $220 million investment across the two sides
00:46 to expand their operations.
00:48 That $220 million will allow for expanded infrastructure, expanded equipment, new advanced
00:54 equipment that is critical for the ability to produce explosive ordnance and propellants
01:00 going into the future.
01:03 The initial jobs dividend from that will be 45 direct jobs for local communities here
01:09 and the expansion of the facilities will mean the potential for up to 150 total jobs working
01:15 on new projects.
01:17 That's great news for the local community.
01:19 That's great news for the defence of the nation.
01:22 Importantly, we've learned the lessons from the Ukraine conflict that's going on right
01:26 now and the COVID supply chain crisis.
01:29 We have to move from just-in-time production to just-in-case capabilities.
01:33 That means we need to do more in Australia and rely less on overseas supply chains.
01:38 And that's why this $220 million investment today is so critical.
01:42 This is essential to the future of our Australian Defence Force.
01:45 It's essential to us handling the deteriorating strategic circumstances we face, where we
01:50 see the greatest arms build-up in our region since World War II.
01:54 So this is great news for the local community and great for the country as a whole.
01:58 I'll invite Leon to say a few words and then answer any questions you might have.
02:04 Thank you, Minister.
02:05 And certainly it's our pleasure to have you here at this government facility, just to
02:11 see all the work that's done here.
02:13 And certainly a shout-out to Andrew Downs and also to Dionne Habner, who've hosted us
02:20 today.
02:21 Thank you for your efforts, not only today but getting us to this point.
02:25 And what a great facility we have here, a government facility that we established in
02:30 1942 and first started producing energetics in 1943.
02:36 And I think the fact that we've kept this facility going, as we lead into more difficult
02:40 times, will give us the bedrock to move forward as we look to accelerate the production of
02:48 munitions and guided weapons in this country.
02:51 And we're very delighted to be making these investments today that really underpin our
02:56 ability to scale.
02:58 As Minister Conroy said, what we've seen in Ukraine, in conflict, where we've seen the
03:04 Ukrainians fire as much 155mm artillery rounds in a single day as Europe might produce in
03:14 a single month.
03:15 And so what we've seen is that we can't rest on our laurels, we can't just assume industry
03:20 is going to come to the party if we haven't invested in their infrastructure.
03:24 So the investments today will give us the necessary ability to scale up as we produce
03:29 weapons in volume moving forward.
03:31 Thank you.
03:32 Thank you.
03:32 Thank you.
03:33 [BLANK_AUDIO]