The aerospace company Cobham has just been awarded a $640 million contract to provide search and rescue services for the Australian government’s Maritime Safety Authority. Cobham was one of several successful British aerospace and defence businesses I visited in Adelaide last week including British Aerospace, Babcock and Ultra. Defence procurement is a complex business, and my team in Canberra including the Defence Adviser and the Defence and Security Organisation team (part of UK Trade & Investment) work hard to support British companies in this sector.
In a brief but busy visit to South Australia, I called on the newly appointed Governor HE Hieu Van Le and his wife Phuong Lan at Adelaide’s splendid Government House. Mr Le arrived in Australia in the 1970s as a refugee from Vietnam and had a successful career as a financial services regulator, whilst making an important contribution to community relations. Becoming Governor is a remarkable achievement and a great symbol of Australia’s migration success story.
I also met local politicians and Natasha Stott Despoja, Australia’s Ambassador for Woman and Girls, who had represented Australia at the Ending Sexual Violence in Conflict conference in London in September. And I gave a couple of speeches: to the SA branch of the Australian British Chamber of Commerce (about G20) and to the annual dinner of the Royal Overseas League.