Opportunities Boosted for Townsville Defence Industry
Townsville’s small and medium businesses are set to benefit from greater government co-contributions for defence industry grants as well as bigger maximum grant values.
Under the changes to take effect from 12 November, new applicants for a Capability Improvement Grant or a Defence Global Competitiveness Grant will only be required to fund 20 per cent of the value of their eligible project, and new applicants for a Sovereign Industrial Capability Priority Grant will only be required to fund 30 per cent of the value of their eligible project. Previously a 50:50 co-contribution was required.
Member for Herbert Phillip Thompson said it was great news for local businesses looking to work with Defence.
“Townsville is Australia’s largest garrison city which means local small and medium businesses are in a great position to be able to take advantage of these grants and boost their capability,” Mr Thompson said.
“I know a lot of the businesses that are coming up with great new ideas and innovations are also employing veterans who know and understand the work, which is fantastic.
“These changes are going to give even more businesses an even better chance of a funding injection to not only boost our local defence industry, but grow and create jobs as our economy recovers.”
Other changes include increasing maximum grant values as follows:
- Sovereign Industrial Capability Priority Grants will increase from $50,000-$1 million to $70,000-$1.4 million;
- Capability Improvement Grants will increase from $2,500-$150,000 to $4,000-$240,000;
- And Defence Global Competitiveness Grants will increase from $15,000-$150,000 to $24,000-$240,000.
Mr Thompson said the increased investment was part of the $1 billion over two years to strengthen the Australian defence industry announced as part of the Budget.
“I’m very passionate about defence industry, but more importantly I’m passionate about small and medium businesses and creating jobs,” he said.
“There is nothing more important than getting people into work right now and the more we can support businesses to do what they do best, the more jobs we will create.”
For more information on the various grant programs, and to apply, visit the Centre for Defence Industry Capability (CDIC) website at https://www.business.gov.au/cdic.
ENDS