Alison Byrnes MP

Member for Cunningham

I would like to acknowledge the traditional custodians of Dharawal country, the land on which we meet and pay my respects to Elders past, present and emerging.

Thank you, Adam.

Adam is a true collaborator and I have really enjoyed working with him to advance the Illawarra and make sure we can grasp every opportunity we can for our region. He is someone I often call on for advice and use as a sounding board.

I would also like to acknowledge Lord Mayor of Wollongong Gordon Bradbery. I know that my NSW colleague Paul Scully MP would have liked to have here but he is a little occupied today.

Today, it is my pleasure to introduce and welcome back to Wollongong someone who is no stranger to the Illawarra, the Assistant Minister for Defence, Assistant Minister for Veterans Affairs and Assistant Minister for the Republic, The Hon. Matt Thistlethwaite. 

As the Federal Member for Cunningham, I take great pride in championing the skills, capabilities and capacity of our region. Whether that is world class steel making, building the renewable infrastructure to generate, store and deliver energy for the future, or building the very best equipment to help keep our soldiers, sailors and airmen and women safe. 

Keeping our defence forces safe and supplied with cutting-edge equipment is a task this community have been doing for more than 100 years.

One under recognised example of Illawarra innovation to support the defence of the nation is the story of Evelyn Owen and his innovation of the Owen Gun in 1939.  Owen applied the cardinal rule of great engineering: simplify, simplify, simplify. Using fewer components, he streamlined and produced a drum fed weapon with a thumb trigger. 

Owen had produced a weapon that would continue to work despite dirt dust, mud and water.

Even the Patent Office entry provides a summary of its unique characteristic:

“It was the Owen gun’s ability to operate under muddy conditions that made it superior to other sub-machine guns in the jungle.  All these advantages combined with an unusual simplicity of design, singled the Owen gun out from its contemporaries and its predecessors.”

 Despite having developed something that could support Australian soldiers, Owen struggled to convince the Department of Defence of the benefits of what he had developed. Military historians note that internal defence politics and opinion were not on his side. 

In one last attempt to enlist interest Owen placed the working model of his gun in a sugar bag which he left anonymously outside the flat of his next door neighbour, the then Manager of Port Kembla based Lysaghts Works, V. A. Wardell.

Wardell could see its military value and that it could be rapidly produced in large quantities.

After a protracted and political ordeal the Owen gun finally made it to Australian troops in 1942 with 45,000 items produced which saw its use throughout the Second World War, in Korea, the Malayan Emergency, the Indonesian confrontation and even Vietnam.

The story of the Owen Gun is part of the history of our local defence industry. It highlights the value of local innovation and local industrial capacity to work together in times of need.

Industrial powerhouses – like the Illawarra – are just as important to the country in times of crisis as they are in times of peace. Maintaining and fostering industrial capability mean that Lysaghts and General Motors Holden could go from making corrugated iron and cars to making munitions, it means NSW Railways could go from making locomotives to making tanks. 

It is a legacy that has been built on with the likes of Bisalloy Steel producing coated products for Combat Reconnaissance Vehicle, Armoured Personnel Carriers, Light Armoured Vehicles, the Bushmaster and the Collins Class submarines.

But our defence industries are not limited to the Illawarra, they stretch all the way down the South Coast. The electorate of Gilmore – represented by Fiona Philips MP who worked as a civilian at HMAS Albatross – is home to the only Navy air station, HMAS Albatross. Jervis Bay is also home to HMAS Creswell, the Royal Australian Naval College. Defence and the defence industry are the biggest employers in that region.

The Shoalhaven Defence Industry Group does a fantastic job promoting the work of so many companies locally and at the dedicated Albatross Aviation Technology Park, designed specifically to support defence and aviation industries right next to HMAS Albatross.

Local defence industry in the Shoalhaven is in demand all over the world, and during COVID, we saw many of these local businesses pivot their operations from mainly international markets to support demand from domestic defence that was facing challenges from international supply chains drying up.

Australia understands too well the fragility of our trade routes and how they can be disrupted in times of crisis, whether that be conflict or pandemic

That is why it is so important that as a nation we build and maintain our strategic capability and workforce; much of which we find here in the Illawarra. 

Advancing our strategic and defence capabilities, our partnerships in industry and technology is vitally important to the Albanese Labor Government.    

They not only provide direct employment, but the adoption of new technologies in defence industries has spurned innovation and technological diffusion into other industries and sectors creating jobs and improving productivity.

To expand more, it is my pleasure to introduce Assistant Minister Matt Thistlethwaite.