The Albanese Government has further invested in local manufacturing and jobs, by securing local maintenance and support of diving and hyperbaric equipment for the Australian Defence Force (ADF) through a $100 million investment.
Today's announcement will involve a five-year contract extension with James Fisher Defence (JFD) Australia as the Category Integrator for Support Services to the ADF diving and hyperbaric equipment, for the delivery of operating, engineering, maintenance, supply, and training services applicable to the ADF's dive equipment, recompression chambers and support equipment.
This highly technical and specialised equipment is vital to ensuring the ADF are able to operate effectively and safety in underwater environments. Through this contract extension, another 13 highly skilled and well-paid jobs will be created at JFD Australia, bringing their total workforce to almost 120 nation-wide.
The work will be conducted in JFD Australia's facilities across Australia, including the manufacture of recompression chambers at Beresfield in the NSW Hunter region, maintenance of rebreathers and hyperbaric chambers at Caringbah in southern Sydney and support of the submarine escape and rescue systems at Bibra Lake, south of Perth.
The diving and hyperbaric equipment enable a range of joint force operations including mine countermeasures, mine warfare, maritime explosive ordnance disposal, advanced force operations, reconnaissance, and underwater battle damage repair.
This specialised equipment will be used to perform a wide range of underwater tasks for both Navy's clearance and ship's divers, and Army's work divers.
Quotes attributable to Minister for Defence Industry and Capability Delivery, Pat Conroy:
"The Albanese Government is investing in the safety of our ADF personnel, by ensuring the local maintenance of specialised equipment that support Australia's underwater maritime security.
"It's work like this that is essential to a future made in Australia, and to the more than 100,000 men and women employed in the defence industry.
"This contract with JFD Australia's is another example of the Albanese Government backing local industry and supporting local jobs and will ensure the company can continue manufacturing in the Hunter."
