Senator Bushby said he was pleased to introduce Mr McGrath to the College’s strengths in the area of defence research.

“The AMC has some outstanding capabilities to all sorts of defence so I would like to take every opportunity to bring the decision-makers into the AMC so there is a broader understanding,” Senator Bushby said.

The visit was hosted by University of Tasmania Vice-Chancellor, Professor Peter Rathjen, and Australian Maritime College Principal, Professor Neil Bose.

The group toured the College’s research facilities including its autonomous underwater vehicle facility, towing tank, model test basin and cavitation research laboratory, all of which are in demand globally for defence and industry projects.

Professor Peter Rathjen explained how Tasmania stood to benefit economically and socially from defence research carried out at the College.

“Sitting here we have the best facility in Australia and probably the Southern Hemisphere when it comes to doing the kind of defence related research that this country needs.

Sitting here we have the best facility in Australia and probably the Southern Hemisphere when it comes to doing the kind of defence related research that this country needs.

“There are huge defence contracts going out across Australia and we would like to see Tasmania positioned to benefit economically and socially for that spend.”

Professor Rathjen went on to highlight one of AMC’s newest facilities, its autonomous underwater vehicle laboratory, as being of particular relevance to defence.

“One of the big issues in defence is moving towards unmanned underwater vehicles; scientists use them to look under polar ice caps, others use them for submarine warfare or for repairing offshore oil and gas.

“We are about to take delivery of a new, two-tonne submarine that cost us just over $10m; this positions us at the national forefront in the most exciting area of technology.”

More information on AMC’s research facilities.

Published on: 23 Mar 2017