The Morrison Government is supporting Australian businesses in their recovery from COVID-19, DATAPOD is one of these businesses.

The innovation and creativity for which Australian businesses are renowned was on show when I visited high-tech communications company Datapod this week.

I was there with Prime Minister Scott Morrison to announce a $1 billion investment package in Australia’s defence industry.

CEO Scott Carr showed me how DATAPOD manufactures purpose-built Deployable Containerised Data Centres (DCDCs), which are self-contained, self-powered and self-cooled.

DATAPOD is a great Australian success story and has adapted its business from mining to defence and other industries that require high-end, deployable data centres.

Already, these mobile data centres have been sent to support ADF deployments in the Middle East, and to provide temporary surge storage capacity at Australian Defence bases.

But like many businesses, DATAPOD has also been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.

If DATAPOD had ceased trading, Defence would have had to find another source of this capability, as it is the only viable provider for this specialised capability — and one with proven delivery for Defence.

So, as part of Defence’s recovery package, we will invest $20 million dollars over the next two years in DATAPOD to manufacture four DCDCs.

This investment will:

·        Maintain delivery of a crucial Defence capability for the ADF,

·        Support Australia’s industrial base and the development of sovereign capabilities and assured supply chains,

·        Invest in Australian jobs and the nation’s economic recovery,

·        Provide opportunities for some of our most talented young STEM students and workers for forge careers in our high?tech defence industry; and

·        Provide businesses like DATAPOD with financial certainty.

The Morrison Government will continue to support Australians and Australian businesses in these challenging times.

With the vast majority of the Defence budget spent here in Australia, I am proud Defence is further playing its part through this $1 billion dollar economic recovery package, delivering critical defence capability and helping Australian companies like DATAPOD.

Already over 15,000 companies and 70,000 Australians are benefiting from our investment in Defence and that number is growing rapidly.

Under our plan, many more will benefit for generations to come.