Minister Clare releases new Skills Australia report into Australia's Defence Industry

Minister for Defence Materiel Jason Clare released the latest Skills Australia report ‘Building Australia’s Defence Supply Capabilities’ which is the main report for the Defence Industry Workforce Strategy at ADM’s Defence Workforce Participation Summit in Canberra last week (27 Sept 2012). The report contains 33 recommendations. Copies of the report can be downloaded from http://www.awpa.gov.au/publications

In his keynote speech, Minister Clare also spoke of the forthcoming workforce ‘valley of death’ which exists between the end of the Air Warfare Destroyer (AWD) Program and the start of the Future Submarine.

“It’s a valley where jobs are lost and skills disappear. A bridge is needed to address this,” he told the conference.

The Minister then went on to talk about the Defence Industry Policy update and give delegates an update on industry programs such as SADI, the Global Supply Chain Program, the PIC Innovation Program and the Defence Engineering Internship Program.

The Minister said that the findings of six PIC health checks have been publicly released and include Combat Clothing, Ship Dry Docking and Common User Facilities, Infantry Weapons, Acoustic Technologies and Systems, Signature Management, and Through-Life and Real Time Support of Mission Critical and Safety Critical Software.

Health checks for High Frequency and Phase Array Radar, Remote Weapons Stations, Electronic Warfare and In-Service Support of Collins Combat System have been drafted and are now undergoing stakeholder review.

It is expected that all remaining initial PIC health checks will be released by late 2012/early 2013.