The ceremony was attended by Minister for Immigration, Citizenship, Migrant Services and Multicultural Affairs, Alex Hawke; Parliamentary Secretary for Western Sydney Shayne Mallard; and senator for NSW Holly Hughes.

The new facility is expected to house the manufacture of secure communications and electronic products, built to support defence industry projects.

GME’s Zone 4 facility is also set to facilitate engagement between international defence primes, with the aim of boosting participation in future defence acquisition and sustainment projects.

To secure Zone 4 accreditation, GME was required to adhere to a number of governance, physical, personnel and cyber security requirements, including:

• ensuring access control systems are directly managed and controlled by the entity, and maintained by appropriately cleared contractors; and
• ensuring privileged operators and users are appropriately trained and security cleared to the level of the security zone.

GME reportedly produces over 40,000 products each month with the support of a local workforce totalling approximately 230 employees, including 45 engineers.

The new Sydney-based facility, partly funded by a $1 million contribution from the government, is tipped to help generate an additional 30 jobs.

“As a 100 percent Australian-owned company, we wanted to play our part in protecting our nation’s future,” Stephen Millar, CEO and managing director, GME said.

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“By being able to research, develop and manufacture High Assurance electronic equipment in Australia, our defence forces will gain a crucial strategic advantage by being less reliant on global allies and supply chains.

“The facility will also enable international Primes to satisfy their AIC requirements, stimulating the expansion of local manufacturing capabilities and engineering skills to meet the future defence and national security needs of our nation.” 

[Related: SYPAQ opens new autonomous systems facility]