Taskforce hits major milestone

The Global Business and Talent Attraction Taskforce is celebrating a major milestone, having helped attract and accelerate the investments of a range of companies to Australia that will collectively create nearly 3,000 new jobs over the next few years.

There are also over 6,500 further potential jobs in the pipeline, with international companies in various stages of planning to start or expand their operations here, while some of the recent arrivals also intend to grow their workforces.

When the Taskforce was set up in 2020, its remit was to attract both high-value businesses and extremely talented individuals to Australia. Convincing an individual to relocate here for our world-renowned lifestyle and career opportunities is one thing, convincing a company that Australia is the best place for them to expand or relocate to is often more complex. However, the Taskforce has been more than equal to the challenge.

Australia has a lot to offer businesses. As Deputy Secretary of the Department of Home Affairs, Mr Peter Verwer, said: “We believe Australia can offer high value firms and individuals an attractive menu of workforce, green energy, stable government, accelerated approvals and other financial and non-financial benefits. The Taskforce can also offer senior executives, company staff and top tier talent flexible visa arrangements and fast track their transition into Australia and connect them with industry and supportive business ecosystems.”

If you think Australia might be the ideal location for your business, visit: https://www.globalaustralia.gov.au/how-we-help

Cognizant: 1600 new digitech jobs earmarked for Adelaide

In late 2021 Cognizant, one of the world’s leading professional services companies, announced its intention to open a new Global Delivery Centre in Adelaide. The new Centre will provide services to Cognizant’s clients in Australia, the UK and Canada. This investment represents a major expansion of the company’s business in Australia.

Cognizant will create over 1,600 new roles for digital engineers, graduates and apprentices by 2026.

Working closely with the South Australian Government, the Taskforce assisted Cognizant with workforce data and planning, access to visas so key staff could both travel to and relocate to Australia to assist with the investment, provided advice on Commonwealth grants and incentives, made introductions to sources of funding and introduced management to other stakeholders.

Find out more: https://careers.cognizant.com/au/en

LeoLabs: New space jobs in regional Western Australia with more to come

LeoLabs, the world’s only commercial provider of space surveillance radar data, supports industries that rely on satellite services. With a network of ground-based, phased array radars, LeoLabs produces high-res data on objects in low Earth orbit to detect and track debris and threats. The West Australian Space Radar (WASR) to be constructed at Bunbury in the State’s south-west, will be the company’s sixth radar.

The Taskforce introduced LeoLabs to key industry stakeholders, assisted with the down selection of sites, and provided guidance on the preparation of MMI grant submissions and Major Project Status application. We also assisted with 408 and skilled work force visas and introduced executives to key Commonwealth Government agencies (Treasury, ATO and NIES) and state government authorities.  The Special Envoy and senior Taskforce staff met with the global CEO on a number of occasions to build confidence and maintain momentum.

Find out more: https://leolabs.space/?lang=en-au

CSIRO Parkes Radio Telescope at night. Image: CSIRO/A. Cherney

Brightmark: Over 100 new circular economy jobs for regional New South Wales

Brightmark is a global waste solutions provider that transforms organic waste into renewable natural gas and recycles all sorts of plastics into other products.

In March 2022 Brightmark announced it will construct an advanced plastics renewal facility in the Parkes Special Activation Precinct in New South Wales. This will be the first-of-its-kind advanced recycling plastics renewal facility in Australia. The facility will be constructed in partnership with the NSW Government.

The facility will process all types of plastics (1-7) to create ultra-low sulfur diesel, wax, and naphtha. The technology can be adapted to produce sustainable aviation fuels and unleaded petrol, all with a CO2 footprint about 30% less than fossil derived fuels, measured well to wheel. The plant will be capable of processing 200,000 tons of waste plastics back into the circularity market, creating import replacement products and assisting Australia to lower its carbon footprint.

The project involves an investment of $260 million and will lead to the creation of 100+ new jobs. The plant is expected to be in operation by 2025, with construction planned to start in mid-2023.

Working closely with the NSW Government, the Taskforce was instrumental in helping get Brightmark over the line. We introduced the company to Commonwealth agencies including the Major Projects Facilitation Agency, ATO and Treasury, provided information on regulations relating to the circular economy sector and assisted with investigating available Commonwealth incentives. We provided information on, and introductions to, supply chain partners both up and down stream of the plant. The Special Envoy and senior leadership met with the Global CEO and local Managing Director on several occasions to help problem solve and build investment confidence.

Find out more: https://www.brightmark.com/plastics-renewal/projects/australia

Bukalapak: 65 new digitech jobs coming to Melbourne

Bukalapak, Indonesia’s first and largest listed tech unicorn, is setting up its first international R&D hub in Melbourne in partnership with the Victorian Government. The company is an all-commerce platform with over 100 million users.

The hub will focus on big data, Internet of Things (IoT) and AI. Melbourne’s abundance of digitech and innovation capabilities, high-quality pool of tech talent, and world-class universities helped make it the destination of choice for Bukalapak.

Bukalapak aims to hire 65 new employees over the next several years − in product, technology, data and design roles, including software engineering and data science.

The Taskforce worked closely with Invest Victoria during Bukalapak’s investment journey. We assisted the company in its search for an office location, facilitated introductions to Victorian universities to support their talent pipeline, and provided visa related services for several of its Indonesia-based staff.

Find out more: https://about.bukalapak.com/en

Download the business factsheet to find out how the Taskforce assists eligible businesses expand or relocate to Australia.