The Australian National Audit Office has issued a report critical of the acquisition of nine Hunter class frigates now under construction at the Osborne naval shipyard in Adelaide. These are the ANAOs’s conclusions in full of its review of the $35 billion acquisition by the Department of Defence: The Department of Defence’s management to date…
Explosives and mining technology group Orica is riding a wave of high commodity prices boosting customers fortunes to notch up a 32 percent rise in half year underlying operating profit of $323 million. The result, which yielded a net profit after tax of $123 million in the half year ended 31 March, came after a…
Australia’s trade minister Don Farrell predicts that China could lift its punitive trade restrictions on $20 billion worth of Australian exports by the end of the year, according to reports in Channel 9 newspapers. On the eve of his departure to China for the first meeting of trade ministers since 2019, Farrell told the newspapers…
The Federal Government’s $15 billion National Reconstruction Fund (NRF) should be designed to reduce hurdles and ease access for Australia’s predominantly small and medium sized manufacturing enterprises, according to the Geelong Manufacturing Council. In a submission to the Government’s NRF, GMC called for the establishment of a decentralised team of business advisers to support SMEs…
Building products group CSR has delivered strong profit and revenue growth in the financial year to 31 March. The company announced net profit after tax of $225 million, up 17 percent on the previous corresponding period, on trading revenue up 13 percent to $2.6 billion. The company’s building products segment earnings before interest and tax…
The Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) has welcomed new funding in the budget to deliver the Industrial Transformation Stream of the government’s Powering the Regions Fund. As part of the $1.9 billion Powering the Regions Fund package, the government announced the $400 million Industrial Transformation Stream to support industrial facilities across Australia to reduce their…
Companies, industry groups and experts comment on last night’s Budget 2023 – this is what they said. Green technology developer Fortescue Future Industries welcomed the budget’s Hydrogen Headstart announcement which ‘demonstrates how seriously the government is taking the green hydrogen industry’ and its critical role in Australia’s future. FFI said in a statement: “This is…
The SmartSat Cooperative Research Centre (CRC) has unveiled a Compact Hybrid Optical-RF User Segment (CHORUS) prototype terminal to provide more stable and secured military satellite communications. Funded by SmartSat CRC, the terminal which was developed over three years of research was revealed at the 15th Australian Space Forum underway in Adelaide. Technology embedded in the…
Budget 2023 provided $392 million for an Industry Growth Program to maximise the return on taxpayers’ investments and provide a clearer pathway for entrepreneurs to develop businesses for later consideration by the government’s $15 billion National Reconstruction Fund. By Roy Green. The new Industry Growth Program is a modest but well considered recognition of the…
Critical minerals developer FYI Resources has moved into the rare earths processing business with the execution of an agreement for the staged acquisition of Minhub Operations Pty Ltd (MOPL). MOPL plans to provide rare earths processing solutions to suppliers of rare earths rich mineral sands via offtake of concentrates, including from the Gippsland and Murray…