Page 36 - Australian Defence Magazine June 2022

36 DEFENCE BUSINESS NORTHERN AUSTRALIA DEFENCE SUMMIT
JUNE 2022 | WWW.AUSTRALIANDEFENCE.COM.AU
NORTHERN AUSTRALIA DEFENCE SUMMIT A HIT
The 9th annual ADM Northern Australia Defence Summit was held at the Darwin Convention Centre on 5 April and attended by over 350 delegates.
JULIAN KERR & NIGEL PITTAWAY | DARWIN
THE summit was the largest one yet in terms of the numbers of delegates attending and was once again held in conjunc- tion with the Northern Territory Government.
Sponsored by Platinum Sponsors Sitzler, Gold Sponsor Dassault Systemes and Silver Sponsors BGIS, SPEE3D and Northrop Grumman, the one-day event provided a full agen- da, including an opening address from then-Minister for De- fence Industry Melissa Price – albeit once again by recorded video – and Keynote addresses from a range of subject mat- ter experts, including then-Northern Territory Chief Min- ister Michael Gunner, Director North of Defence’s Capital Facilities and Infrastructure Security and Estate Group Col- onel Michael Quinn, and Luke Gosling, the Federal Member for Solomon and the Deputy Chair of Standing Committee on Infrastructure, Transport and Cities.
A TOP END PERSPECTIVE
Construction of Darwin’s $400 million ship lift will be- gin later this year, Northern Territory Chief Minister
Michael Gunner told delegates in his keynote speech. A preferred contractor will be named by mid-year and what will be northern Australia’s largest capability of its type is scheduled to be operational by late 2024, officials
confirmed.
The 103-metre long, 26-metre wide common user facility
will be able to lift the RAN’s Arafura-class Offshore Patrol Vessels (OPVs) and other military and civilian vessels of up to 5,000 tonnes. This will enable Darwin to take its place as a maritime hub servicing the RAN’s new Regional Main- tenance Centre North (RMC-North) and industry across the entire region, Gunner said.
Defence spending in the Northern Territory reached $2.2 billion last financial year, the Chief Minister noted in an
ABOVE: Held in conjunction with the NT Government, the 2022 event was the largest yet in terms of numbers of delegates attending
ROYA GHODSI