8:40

Opening remarks from the Chair

8:50

Welcome Address |

Councillor Jenny Hill, Mayor, City of Townsville

9:00

KEYNOTE | Understanding Townsville’s significance as a key strategic Defence Hub

• How the Townsville Defence Strategy will enable the region to deliver crucial Defence Capability
• Why Townsville is the location of choice for allied forces training, an Army home base, and the ADF Forward
  Mounting Base
• Executing the strategic goals, initiative and plan. Where are we at?

LTGEN (RTD) John Caligari AO DSC, Defence Sector Strategic
Advisor, Townsville City Council

9:30

ANALYSIS | Assessing future military risk to Northern Australia and understanding Queensland’s preparedness and capability

• What role does the north play in Australia’s security?
• How equipped is the North, and Queensland in particular, to sustain an attack?
• Assessing current and future risks including cyber

Gill Savage, Senior Fellow, Northern Australia Strategic Policy Centre

10:00

ANALYSIS | Analysing China’s grand strategy under Xi Jinping and the implications for the region

• Unpicking the China and Solomon Islands Pact and its impact on Australia and the South Pacific
• Assessing the prospects for the deployment of Chinese troops in the region and a new naval base in the Pacific
• Solomon today, where next?
• Regional responses from the US, Australia and their allies

Dr Anna Hayes, Senior Lecturer Political Science, James Cook
University; Senior Fellow, East Asia Security Centre

10:30

Morning Tea

11:00

CASE STUDY | Development of NQ Spark

• Update on the development of the North Queensland Simulation Park
• Aligning innovators and problem solvers to research, test and operationalise the latest Defence technologies
• Just the spark to ensure Townsville’s future capacity to deliver cutting-edge Defence projects

COL (RTD) David Burke, Managing Director, NQ Spark

11:30

CASE STUDY | Developing Australia’s foremost marine autonomous systems industry hub

• How ReefWorks offers a national capability to safely test marine technologies, uncrewed systems and new sensors in a tropical marine environment
• Digital twins of test ranges for uncrewed systems and sensor developers and regulators
• Enabling an evergreening autonomous systems industry through a seamless transition from simulated to real world environments, efficient and accessible tropical test and evaluation, and detailed performance analyses.
• Removing regulatory barriers to maturing artificially-intelligent autonomous systems and swarms by providing a safe environment for unproven marine technology test and evaluation
• Enabling cross domain industry collaboration in autonomous systems by interfacing with the Queensland Flight Test Range in Cloncurry and NQ SPARK to accelerate sovereign capability development, based in Australia’s largest garrison city

Melanie Olsen, Project Director, ReefWorks, Australian Institute of Marine Science

12:00

Lunch

13:00

CASE STUDY | Enhancing access to supply chains

Millie Keating, Industry Development Unit Manager, Hanwha Defence Australia

13:20

PANEL DISCUSSION | Enhancing access to supply chains

• Understanding the impediments to accessing supply chains and how best to overcome them?
• Challenges in the Defence Export space
• Ensuring compliance with supply chain security protocols

Adam Packer, Director, TEi Services
Kate Sullivan, Defence Industry Adviser, Office of Defence Industry Support, Department of Defence
Millie Keating, Industry Development Unit Manager, Hanwha Defence Australia

14:00

Afternoon Tea

14:30

CASE STUDY | Developing Australia’s Defence Capability in North Queensland

14:50

PANEL DISCUSSION | Skilling North Queensland’s Defence Industry

• How equipped is the local population to meet the skilling needs of the Defence industry over the next 30 years?
• What skillsets are industry craving but finding supply difficult?
• What policy developments will ensure that the next generation will have the requisite skills to ensure the growth of Queensland’s Defence industry?

Amy Lever, Manager, Defence Industry Hub, Department of State Development, Queensland
Crissy Avery, Skills Development and Training Officer, Townsville Manufacturing Hub, Department of Regional Development, Queensland

15:30

Closing remarks from the Chair and Networking Drinks