The federal government has opened $50 million in grants to strengthen Australia’s supply chain capabilities, with the goal of improving access to critical products in times of crisis.
Applications are open for manufacturers under the Supply Chain Resilience Initiative, which is a key part of the government’s $1.5 billion Modern Manufacturing Strategy.
Matched grants of between $50,000 and $2 million are available for businesses which can help address supply chain vulnerabilities across medicines and agricultural production chemicals.
Minister for Industry, Science and Technology, Christian Porter, said projects could include scaling up existing manufacturing and workforce skills capability or increasing supply chain transparency through technology.
“COVID-19 has taught us that we need to be able to have access to critical products in times of crisis and that is why we are investing in projects to support our supply chain resilience,” Minister Porter said.
“Our initial analysis identified medicines, agricultural production chemicals – such as fertilisers – and personal protective equipment (PPE) as sectors of focus,” he said.
He continued that the federal government has already worked side-by-side with industry, offering significant investment to scale up Australia’s ability to make PPE locally when we needed it most.
He said this included providing funding to establish and expand local manufacturing, establishing accredited product testing capabilities, and providing free access to product standards and streamlining regulatory reviews and approvals. Now, the government want to drive the same success for medicines and agricultural production chemicals.
“Not only is this initiative important to strengthening our ability to access critical products for the health and wellbeing of Australians, it’s also helping grow Australian manufacturing and create new jobs for generations to come,” Minister Porter explained.
A second round of analysis into semi-conductors, water treatment chemicals and telecommunications equipment is commencing shortly.
Through the $107.2 million Supply Chain Resilience Initiative, an Office of Supply Chain Resilience will be established to provide ongoing capacity to monitor vulnerabilities and coordinate whole-of-government efforts to boost supply chain resilience.
Source: Minister for Industry, Science and Technology media release