It will also provide minor refurbishment of the Training Ship Vampire, in use by the Royal Australian Navy Cadets.

Local business DDR, which has 51 per cent Indigenous ownership, recently secured a $12.71 million contract for construction and is being supported by wholly Indigenous-owned company, Jabin Project Management.

“It’s great to see us reach this important milestone as we break ground for the new multi-user facilities we’re building for the Australian Army,” said Assistant Minister for Defence Matt Thistlethwaite.

“We continue to evolve the Defence estate to provide modern facilities across Australia for our personnel to work, train and live in.

“I’m proud to see the government’s Indigenous Procurement Policy in action. There are two Indigenous-owned businesses leading the construction work and the project management and contract administration.

“The project is creating local job opportunities in the Northern Rivers region of New South Wales, aiming for 85 per cent local contractor engagement.”

Jabin advises they were directly engaged by the Department of Defence, and construction is due for completion in 2023.

Robert Dougherty

Robert is a senior journalist who has previously worked for Seven West Media in Western Australia, as well as Fairfax Media and Australian Community Media in New South Wales. He has produced national headlines, photography and videography of emergency services, business, community, defence and government news across Australia. Robert graduated with a Bachelor of Arts, Majoring in Public Relations and Journalism at Curtin University, attended student exchange program with Fudan University and holds Tier 1 General Advice certification for Kaplan Professional. Reach out via email at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or via LinkedIn.