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Combet Facilitates Military Exports
Tue, 06/24/2008 - 10:24 — News
However, this is not necessarily true in the defence industry. A 2004 survey of the defence industry found that the greatest export intensity was found in SMEs. Only one defence company surveyed with more than 100 employees exported more than 50% of their output, whereas a significant number of companies with less than 100 employees had a much greater export intensity. This stands to reason as most of the defence primes, especially the multinationals, were established in Australia to service the ADF with some limited exports back through their parent companies.
Interestingly, of the companies who were successful exporters, half of them exported as part of a supply chain. This is perhaps a recognition of how hard it is for defence SMEs to break into the export market with a stand alone product. Integrating Australian SMEs into global supply chains is probably the best way of boosting defence exports and it is a tactic that government can readily assist in.
Earlier this year I announced the establishment of the DMO Defence Export Unit which has a clear role in facilitating the entry of Australian companies into the global market place and supply network. This is conjunction with the AIC plans is clearly focusing defence industry policy on assisting Defence SMEs into global supply chains.
The Boeing Office of Australian Industry Capability (BOAIC) located in Seattle is a very interesting initiative which I’m following closely. I know that Boeing is mentoring half a dozen Australian SMEs who are attending a Boeing supplier fair in St Louis as we speak. They’re meeting with over 200 suppliers and hopefully making contacts that will translate into export orders. The DMO is conducting a review of the office’s effectiveness at the moment and I will be very interested in the review’s conclusion.
Today, 24 June 2008, the Parliamentary Secretary for Defence Procurement, Greg Combet, addressed a Australian Industry and Defence Network Lunch in Canberra.
An excerpt from the part of his speech relating to Defence Exports is reprinted below, the entire speech can viewed on the Defence Dept's website.
On the topic of exports I was quite surprised when I looked at who actually in the defence industry exports. Coming from my broader economic background, I had assumed that it was the big defence companies who undertook most of the defence exports. Scale and having a domestic base have traditionally been the key precursors to export success.