LAND WARFARE CONFERENCE

Dr CLOSE (Port Adelaide) (14:36): Can the Premier inform the house about the government's presence at the Land Warfare Conference in Melbourne?

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL (Cheltenham—Premier, Minister for State Development) (14:36): I thank the honourable member for her question. Of course, there is a very substantial defence presence in her electorate, both at Techport in Port Adelaide and also in Mawson Lakes. Indeed, it represents a very substantial part of our manufacturing effort here in South Australia.

Last night, the Minister for Defence Industries and I hosted a Defence SA dinner as part of the Land Warfare Conference being held in Melbourne as we speak. We were joined by senior officers from the Defence Force and the Defence Materiel Organisation, as well as representatives from South Australian, national and international defence industries, and from our Defence Advisory Board.

The particular evening was chaired by General Cosgrove, who did a fantastic job at that event, and it was very exciting to see the number of international organisations represented at that conference. I had the pleasure of speaking to one of the representatives from a German company who said that, when he considered where to set up his operations here in Australia, it became obvious that South Australia was the defence state, and he was pleased to join the other companies that had extended their vote of confidence in South Australia by setting up here in South Australia.

This Land Warfare Conference, organised by the Defence Science and Technology Organisation, in conjunction with the Australian Army, brings together around 3,000 delegates from across Australia and the world, so it is a very substantial conference. South Australia focused on leveraging our significant military and civil vehicle manufacturing base to attract vehicle and systems projects—that has been our objective.

Our experience in delivering the Australian Army's two major fleets of armoured fighting vehicles has resulted in a depth of specialist knowledge, with over 120 local SMEs which supplied General Dynamics Land Systems Australia and BAE Systems Australia to deliver the ASLAV and APCs respectively. The feedback we had from General Dynamics is when they actually sought to identify local business capability, they found that really within a few kilometres of their factory, they were able to locate all of the skills and capabilities they need. So, this South Australian tradition of manufacturing was there, and they could tap into it.

We want to win the Land 400—the Army's major fleet replacement project for Australia. This is the second most lucrative defence project on the horizon, of course, behind the Future Submarine Project, and I have no doubt that South Australia's industry expertise is highly capable of partnering with Defence to play a major role in this modernisation drive. We are also supporting our local firms to capture the supply opportunities on projects like the medium and heavy protected and unprotected trucks and modules and the Battlespace Communications System.

This defence state expo stand at the conference is hosting eight South Australian small and medium-sized companies, showcasing the state's land defence capabilities and helping them to promote business to both Defence but also local players. The procurement officers for Defence bring their people here to find out what is available. They are very interested in finding out what South Australia's capabilities are. Of course, the Minister for Defence Industries, who is not here today, is representing the state at that conference.

We passionately believe that South Australia's position as the defence state, where we have about 25 per cent of the nation's in-country spend, is something we can build on. When these companies look around and ask, 'Where are BAE, where are Raytheon, where are all of these big companies located' the answer is South Australia and they say, 'We want to be there as well.' So, it is building momentum and we are very excited to get in behind this and attract even further business for South Australia.