Nioa boss calls on Australia to defend itself in new world order

Australia needs to be able to defend itself in a world marked by both political and technological disruption, says one of the country’s leading defence industry figures.

Rob Nioa, chairman and chief executive of Nioa, Australia's largest privately owned arms supplier.

Australia needs to be able to defend itself in a world marked by both political and technological disruption, says one of the country’s leading defence industry figures.

NIOA chief executive Rob Nioa said in Brisbane last week that “jarring change is coming” to the world underscored by sweeping reform of the US government by Donald Trump and calls for increased defence spending.

“I’m all for the US alliance, but a key part of our alliance contribution is to make ourselves a strong defence and security power, one able to look after its own interests,” said Mr Nioa.

NIOA is now the largest Australian-owned supplier of munitions to the Australian Defence Force after taking over Tennessee-based army sniper rifle supplier Barrett Firearms in 2022 for a reported $200m. The Queensland-based firm also has signed an agreement with US company L3Harris Aerojet Rocketdyne to explore the manufacture of critical guided weapons components to support domestic and allied missile production.

“We need a stronger defence industry base and one that puts the interests of the ADF and Australia ahead of any other country,” Mr Nioa told the lunch.

“Regardless of the outcome of the next federal election, the government of the day must act with urgency and mobilise our industrial base.

“Those of us in the defence sector hold to the view that contracts must start flowing soon to build on those policy foundations delivered by the government” including AUKUS.

Australia, Britain and the US announced the landmark trilateral security agreement in 2021 with the centrepiece, known as Pillar One, being the delivery of a nuclear-powered attack submarine capability to Australia.

A Chinese frigate operating to the northeast of Australia last week.

AUKUS Pillar Two covers a broader range of projects, including cyber capabilities, artificial intelligence, quantum technolo­gies, and additional undersea capabilities.

“AUKUS Pillar Two represents a major opportunity for Australian companies and identifies all those technology priority areas where our three countries must prevail,” Mr Nioa said. “It covers quantum computing, cyber, undersea technology, hypersonic vehicles and counter-hypersonic technology, electronic warfare and autonomous systems.”

Mr Nioa said AUKUS also had identified artificial intelligence as one of the priority areas for allied defence forces.

“We only need to look to China’s DeepSeek artificial intelligence app and the impact it had when recently released,” he said. “It’s not as if we didn’t know that China, the US and a number of other countries are racing to outcompete each other on AI.

“DeepSeek has the potential to turn out to be another ‘Sputnik moment’ that supercharges US-China competition.

“I’m sceptical that the app ­represents a definitive breakthrough compared to the rapid progress with generative AI in the democracies.

“But whatever the real situation, we are just at the start of a global technological revolution where there will be many advances from the major AI powerhouses.”

Mr Nioa said President Trump wanted to put American enterprise back in the driving seat of the “country’s national security and prosperity”, which had big ramifications for Australia.

“Big change can be exhilarating and maybe a bit scary, but here it comes.

“And let’s not forget that China is, under President Xi, a disruptive power, looking to remake the Asia-Pacific, if not the global international security order. And against this backdrop we are about to undertake a national election in Australia which has every potential to provide significant change at home.”

He said companies should be prepared to deal with the coming political and technological disruption and take advantage of a more competitive business environment. “Companies need to exploit this new world and maximise transfers of technology and the establishment of new industrial base capabilities and partnerships,” he said.

Former Shark Tank judge and tech entrepreneur Steve Baxter said last week that Mr Trump’s push for Western countries to spend more on their militaries would be a boon for his specialist defence technology venture capital fund Beaten Zone.

Mr Baxter, a former army ­officer who made his fortune in the tech sector, has raised $10m in the first funding round for Beaten Zone, which already has a ­pipeline spanning advanced computing, autonomous systems, space technology and orbital capabilities.

Originally published as Nioa boss calls on Australia to defend itself in new world order