Brandon How

Employment department first assistant secretary Melissa Ryan has vacated her role leading Workforce Australia for Individuals after a series of technology issues. A department spokesperson confirmed on Friday that Ms Ryan was no longer overseeing the job seeker service provider network and “has taken up a new opportunity”, but declined to comment further. During Senate estimates last month, Ms Ryan apologised for automated emails that threatened to cut off payments if job seekers did not work around an IT issue that was slowing reporting on the government’s side.

Experts have called on the government to channel more of its industry and clean energy funding into circular economy ventures to help meet ambitious new re-use targets and keep pace with global efforts. On Tuesday, a report from the Circular Economy Ministerial Advisory Group established in 2022 by Environment minister Tanya Plibersek was released with 14 recommendations to improve the support and pace of a national push, after finding a lack of cohesion. “A more strategic approach to innovation funding and support will drive a higher proportion of market-disrupting innovations, including whole-of-supply-chain innovation,” the group's report said.

Adelaide-based additive manufacturer AML3D has delivered 3D-printed parts that will be installed on a United States Navy nuclear-powered Virginia-Class submarine later this year, developing its role in the AUKUS supply chain. Prototype copper-nickel tailpiece components, valued at $156,000, will undergo testing and in-service trials on a nuclear submarine as a part of its ongoing partnership with the US Navy’s Maritime Industrial Base program through program integrator BlueForge Alliance. Development and testing of AML3D’s components with BlueForge have been ongoing since March 2023. The company also raised $30 million in November last year to help expand in the US and prepare for market entry in the United Kingdom and Europe.

Fortescue has increased its ownership of a novel green hydrogen production technology joint venture as it moves towards pilot-testing following a year of huge setbacks for the mining giant’s electrolysis ambitions. The Sparc Hydrogen initiative aims to commercialise technology for producing green hydrogen directly from sunlight using research from the University of Adelaide and Flinders University. Last year Fortescue cut 700 jobs and abandoned an ambitious 2030 green hydrogen production target and halted plans for green hydrogen production facilities in Australia.

Western Australian government contracts worth up to $5 million can be signed directly with local manufacturing companies without a competitive tender process following a procurement rule exemption that quietly came into effect on Monday. Prior to the new procurement direction, only contracts worth up to $50,000 could be directly sourced without seeking other bids. The $5 million threshold is a more generous direct sourcing exemption than the Commonwealth procurement rules. The new exemption applies to the procurement of products that are manufactured in Western Australia, subject to approval from an authorised officer within the state government agency and in some cases, advice from the Finance department. The Western Australian government signed off on the exemption provision on December 20, which has come into effect less than two months out from the next state election. It is a part of the state government's aim to leverage $30 billion of annual procurement expenditure to support local and diversify the ec

Aluminium producers that switch to renewables will share in $2 billion worth of production credits under an election commitment by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on Monday. The subsidy aimed at helping the energy-intensive sector to decardonise will require smelters to make the switch by 2036 to be eligible for the credit, which will be paid out per tonne of clean aluminium produced per facility for up to 10 years. While the government has yet to announce the full details of the Green Aluminium Production Credit, it is expected to be available to Australia’s four industrial aluminium smelting facilities from 2028 to 2044.

The New South Wales government’s former chief data scientist Dr Ian Opperman will help assure the Western Australian government that its use and implementation of AI is done ethically as a part of its first AI advisory board. The board’s seven members, announced over the weekend, consist of experts from technical, legal, academic, cyber security, community engagement and governance backgrounds that will each serve a two-year term. Dr Opperman, who is now the co-founder of digital advisory firm ServiceGen, was formerly the chair of the New South Wales government’s AI Advisory Committee and oversaw the development of its AI assurance framework.

The federal government is funding a Defence TAFE Centre of Excellence in Western Australia to help deliver on the advanced capability opportunities of AUKUS Pillar II, a key focus of its Defence industry strategy. The centre, funded under the federal government’s National Skills Agreement, will deliver defence industry training across the maritime, air, land, space, and cybersecurity sectors. The investment was announced alongside the launch of the state government’s Defence and Defence Industry Strategy 2025, which wants capabilities across all Defence domains, and leveraging AUKUS Pillar II, to be developed within the state by 2040.  

The federal government has awarded $6.4 million to an industry-funded cyber threat intelligence network to establish a health industry targeted information sharing and analysis centre. The Critical Infrastructure Information Sharing and Analysis Centre (CI-ISAC), a not-for-profit, will use the funding to bring on additional full-time staff and upgrade its technical information sharing platform. Its new Health Cyber Sharing Network will grant the healthcare industry free 12-month memberships with the intention that the network will become self sufficient through fees at the end of the grant period. The funding delivers on the federal government’s commitment to fund a health-dedicated ISAC as a part of its 2023-2030 Cyber Security Strategy.

The CSIRO will help modernise the Royal Australian Navy’s electronic warfare capabilities under an initial $21 million contract, joining the multi-decade program currently led by multinational Raytheon. The Modernisation of Maritime Electronic Warfare (MMEW) Project aims to deliver a variety of new and enhanced electro-optical, infrared, and ultraviolet capabilities to the Navy’s surface fleet over at least the next 20 years. Following an initial request for information issued in 2023, CSIRO “has been selected to support the project and deliver professional engineering services due to its experience as an Australian innovation leader”, according to a Defence spokesperson. The contract for work MMEW phase one will run to 2027, but includes two extension options to take it out to 2033. While the contract began at the start of December but a public notice was only published on Monday.