![CAPACITY: Tasmanian Defence Advocate Steve Gilmore, Advanced Manufacturing and Defence Industries Minister Jeremy Rockliff and Franklin Liberal MHA Jacquie Petrusma at the launch of the Defence Tasmania Industry Directory. Picture: supplied CAPACITY: Tasmanian Defence Advocate Steve Gilmore, Advanced Manufacturing and Defence Industries Minister Jeremy Rockliff and Franklin Liberal MHA Jacquie Petrusma at the launch of the Defence Tasmania Industry Directory. Picture: supplied](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/tU3s4GQYJcpNYMWcjKYZt4/5b7fa0f4-8e3c-4f91-8909-18fcd7701eb3.jpg/r0_327_4898_3298_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
A new directory profiling more than 30 Tasmanian businesses and organisations launched on Tuesday seeks to showcase the state's defence capabilities to potential investors.
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The Defence Tasmania Industry Directory will be distributed to senior defence officials, buyers and contractors both nationally and internationally.
It includes companies across a number of sectors including maritime, aerospace, land vehicles and the cyber domain.
Tasmanian Defence Advocate Steve Gilmore said, although it was hard to predict how much investment the directory could bring in, the scale of the projects the companies were hoping to participate in was in the hundreds of millions of dollars.
"We will go head-to-head with other companies and organisations," Mr Gilmore said.
He said the companies and organisations included in the directory had developed first-class skills relevant to defence.
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"A number are already partners in defence projects. Around half," he said.
"There are others that are in the process of adapting what they do in the commercial space for vital defence capabilities and each of them has a lot to offer the Australian Defence Force and also our international partners."
Definium Technologies chief executive Mike Cruse said he hoped this directory would shine a light on Tasmania's manufacturing capability.
Mr Cruse said the Launceston-based company, which designs advanced electronic systems, was looking to potentially double the size of its business by next year because the COVID-19 shutdown forced many to turn to Australian manufacturers, like Definium.
"We are bucking a trend of getting everything made in China and trying to solve entire problems from within the state," Mr Cruse said.
"Having Tasmanian companies contribute to the overall sovereign capability in Australia is a really great thing.
"Having this attention from the defence sector in Tasmania is something that helps small businesses grow."
![Definium Technologies chief executive Mike Cruse Definium Technologies chief executive Mike Cruse](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/tU3s4GQYJcpNYMWcjKYZt4/7f58425d-f9da-49fc-9834-54d26cf397af.jpg/r0_0_1086_678_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
Penguin Composites chief executive John van der Woude welcomed the company's inclusion in the directory and said they manufactured a range of fiberglass composites which could be utilised in defence-related contracts.
"That is our strategy to keep expanding our defence contracts," he said.
Mr van der Woude said the government had done well in expanding defence opportunities for the state.
Advanced Manufacturing and Defence Industries Minister Jeremy Rockliff said he was hopeful the directory would assist in securing contracts for Tasmanian companies.
"This is a $200 billion dollar industry [in Australia] over the next 10 years and Tasmania will make sure that where there's an opportunity we will be there on the front-foot," Mr Rockliff said.
"That doesn't necessarily mean one entire piece of machinery, it could be a really specialised component."
He said, given COVID-19 travel restrictions, there were many innovative ways the state could show its defence capabilities to the rest of the world such as the fact it had invested in a defence advocate.
Although Tasmania was unsuccessful in its bid to be contracted by the Federal government for the Land 400 Phase 2 project, Mr Rockliff confirmed a North-West Tasmanian advanced manufacturer was supplying componentry to the winning company.
"In relation to Phase 3, Tasmanian companies are actively pursuing participation, with several companies already taking part in a recent virtual roadshow to identify potential suppliers," Mr Rockliff said.
Meanwhile, Mr Rockliff said Queensland needed to "bugger off" in its bid to move the Australian Maritime College's Pacific Maritime Training Service Program from Tasmania to Cairns.
"Tasmania has been delivering this training for 28 years. AMC is where the expertise lies and may it continue," Mr Rockliff said.
"It's very cheeky for Queensland to think they can take that off us."