South Australia is driving double-digit annual growth in Australia’s defence industry.
The latest Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) data shows the sector contributed $11.9 billion in gross value added (GVA) to the Australian economy in 2023-24.
ABS Head of Satellite Accounts Luisa Ryan said this represented 0.47 percent of the country’s total GVA.
“Australian defence industry GVA grew by 12.4 percent, or $1.3 billion, in the 2023-24 financial year,” Ms Ryan said.
She said employment in the industry grew by 9.1 percent in the last financial year, reaching a total of 69,400 people.
“South Australia drove the national defence industry growth. The state’s defence industry grew by $425 million, and 1300 more defence industry employees were added.”
Ms Ryan said New South Wales and Victoria continued to have the largest defence industries of the states and territories, with the defence industry contributing $3.5 billion in New South Wales and $2.5 billion in Victoria.
She said professional, scientific and technical services ($5.4 billion) and Manufacturing ($2 billion) continued to make the largest contributions to the Australian defence industry.
