Page 55 - Australian Defence Magazine July-August 2022

JULY-AUGUST 2022 | WWW.AUSTRALIANDEFENCE.COM.AU
INDIGENOUS ADVANTAGE KILLARA SERVICES 55
LEFT: Today Killara Services has 350 employees and turnover of $22 million, more than half that in the defence sector
BELOW LEFT: Jasmine Newman, Killara Services Managing Director
COMPANY ORIGINS
Through high school, Jasmine planned a career in the Aus- tralian Defence Force, participating in Defence’s Indig- enous Pre-recruit Program, first as a participant and the following year as a mentor.
Her ambition was to join a team analysing foreign com- munications within what is now the Australian Signals Di- rectorate.
There were problems along the way. Initially she was re- jected because of a serious injury when 10 – a ruptured Achilles tendon, which from Defence’s perspective, never completely heals.
She appealed to the defence medical board, arguing that this was a childhood injury from which she would recover more than she would if it had occurred as an adult. They agreed.
Then she underwent the medical which included various blood tests, and discovered she was pregnant. She admits that stopped her in her tracks.
“It did, it absolutely did,” she said. However, she’s now mother of four.
The rise of Killara Services is in part attributable to a fortuitous association with a major player, GJK Facility Ser- vices, and its owner, businessman George Stamas.
The company now employs more than 3,000 people across Australian and New Zealand.
“He saw this really amazing business opportunity and we started what was then known as GJK Indigenous Solu- tions as a joint venture in 2017,” New- man recalled.
“In the initial stages we were sup-
ported by GJK for some back of house work like HR and finance, which enabled me to start the business really com- petitively.
“It allowed me to wear a million hats and to focus on growing the business. I started my first cleaning contract with my husband with a vacuum on my back and did that for five years.”
He started out as a part-time cleaner, working his way up into management, ultimately becom-
ing owner and managing director of
GJK in 1987.
“NOW JASMINE IS THE MANAGING DIRECTOR OF A COMPANY WITH 350 EMPLOYEES AND TURNOVER OF $22 MILLION”
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