Mr Ingram was appointed the AMC's defence manager in 2016 but works primarily in Sydney and in Canberra, creating pathways and links between the Defence industry and the tertiary education institution.

"The AMC probably suffers a little bit from geographical isolation," he said.

"It's great for Tasmania, but it's really a national facility, it's fantastic for Australia as well. From what I've seen and being an honorary Tasmanian, in Tasmania, there is a great story to tell but you need to be knocking on the doors of the mainland of what great thing happen here."

Mr Ingram spends the bulk of his time in Sydney, Canberra and, more recently, in South Australia to work at the SA maritime technical college.

"By being in Sydney, the aim was I was more able to readily access Defence, particularly the Navy in Sydney and Canberra areas, but essentially I'm on the mainland," he said.

"The AMC has a long-standing relationship with Defence, Navy in particular, so it's my job to bring all the strands of our training, education and research activity together into a more sustainable program of mutually beneficial activities.

"I've also been working on raising awareness of AMC's capabilities within Defence, as well as gaining a fuller understanding of Defence needs. "

Mr Ingram coordinates visits between the Defence industry and the AMC and tries to be in Tasmania on the campus about every three weeks.

He said it was important to keep up-to-date with the staff and the research happening at AMC to ensure he could create the connections that the industry needed.

However, his role has expanded since 2016 to include a role with the reasonably new South Australian Maritime Technical College.

The college was announced in 2017 by then-Defence Minister Christopher Pyne, after the collapse of the car manufacturing industry in the state.

The technical college and how it would work in relation to AMC caused some concern in Tasmania but Mr Ingram said its name was a little misleading.

"The maritime technical college is more of an industry-led hub that works with a network of education providers, like the AMC," he said.

"The AMC is part of that network, so we are part of the naval shipbuilding college.

"The headquarters has a key role in coordinating and understanding the requirements of industry and working with its network training partners to ensure the supply is meeting the demand."

Mr Ingram said AMC was invited to be part of the naval shipbuilding college "right from the very beginning" once it had been established the SA college would not be an education training provider in its own right.

"The network involves a handful of preferred providers who are the first port of call and a growing network of endorsed providers," Mr Ingram said.

"In the very beginning when it was initially mooted as a maritime technical college there was a discussion about whether the AMC might be able to run it," he said.

"Very quickly once the shipbuilding plan was released and the government provided more details it was made clear the shipbuilding college was industry-run and supported by education and training."

However, the preferred providers, which includes the AMC, sit on the delivery advisory council for the shipbuilding college to help them understand supply and demand.

"[the delivery advisory council] is involved in understanding the demand and supply quota, looking at any gaps, in what the national network can provide and being the first point of call to provide solutions to close the gap," Mr Ingram said.

"That status as a preferred provider is important for AMC because of our status as a national institution and our specialist maritime courses we provide. The HQ relies on us."

Mr Ingram, who calls himself an "honorary Tasmanian" said he didn't believe that enough people, individuals and in industry, knew about the "the gem" that is the AMC.

When asked if he believed the AMC's capabilities were widely known, he said: "Frankly, no, I don't."

He said part of his role was realising the potential of the AMC and ensuring the people who needed to know about it did, so strategic partnerships could form.

Success stories to emerge from this is the discussions around the proposed defence precinct at the AMC, which is conditional on land being released from UTAS' campus move to Inveresk.

The defence precinct has received bi-partisan support this election campaign, with both parties pledging $30 million for the project to expand the AMC.

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