{"id":690322,"date":"2026-05-23T22:44:20","date_gmt":"2026-05-23T22:44:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/690322\/"},"modified":"2026-05-23T22:44:20","modified_gmt":"2026-05-23T22:44:20","slug":"holes-in-australias-sovereign-capability-exposed-by-iran-war-supply-chain-issues","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/690322\/","title":{"rendered":"Holes in Australia’s sovereign capability exposed by Iran war supply chain issues"},"content":{"rendered":"

Along with the vulnerability of global supply chains, the Iran war has also exposed the overlooked parts of Australia’s manufacturing sector needed in a crisis.<\/p>\n

Fuel and fertiliser supply disruptions are making headlines, but access to crucial manufacturing chemicals, plastic for food packaging, and yarn to make clothing is also waning.<\/p>\n

Policies to build sovereign capability are prioritising defence and energy, but there are fears they fail to consider other critical supplies required to keep those sectors going.<\/p>\n

Rather than wait for policy change, the nation’s manufacturers are forging ahead with strategies of their own.<\/p>\n

More than the sum of its parts<\/p>\n

Since the conflict broke out in the Middle East Geelong textile manufacturer LoomTex has been fielding new inquires for product.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Samantha Van Zyl says price volatility is causing headaches. (Supplied: LoomTex)<\/p>\n

Chief executive Samantha Van Zyl is grateful for the exposure, even though it brings new pressures.<\/p>\n

“It’s triggered this activation of demand and opportunity for localisation,” she said.<\/p>\n

“But at the same time, you’re doing it with an extra layer of complexity that didn’t exist six months ago.”<\/p>\n

Before the war, the company, which primarily makes upholstery and furnishing fabrics, developed a bespoke fibre to be worn by emergency service workers, but Ms Van Zyl said accessing raw materials<\/a> was getting harder.<\/p>\n

\"Thicker<\/p>\n

Wool and cotton spinning is the only step of textile manufacturing not available in Australia. (Supplied: Eqwools)<\/p>\n

Supply for existing contracts and customers is secure, but pricing raw materials for new innovations is volatile.<\/p>\n

“If I tender to three different spinning mills for yarn, they’ll normally say to me, ‘OK, here’s this price. It’s valid for 30 days,'” she said.<\/p>\n

“Now that’s three hours.”<\/p>\n

She fears this volatility could slow the development of solutions to the sovereign capability problem.<\/p>\n

‘Can’t just be the finished product’<\/p>\n

Sovereign capability means a country can manage its own resources and systems.<\/p>\n

\"Sam<\/p>\n

Samantha Delgos says geopolitical tensions show the importance of local manufacturing capabilities.\u00a0 (Supplied: Australian Fashion Council)<\/p>\n

The term is often used in reference to defence, but Australian Fashion Council (AFC) general manager Sam Delgos says it goes beyond that.<\/p>\n

“Sovereign capability is really about resilience and the ability to supply essential goods that we need here in Australia when global supply chains fail,” she said.<\/p>\n

Since 2020 the Australian fashion and textile industry has had to navigate major disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, volatile US tariff policies, and now the Iran war.<\/p>\n

Ms Delgos said the pandemic showed that Australia could not rely on other countries to make face masks or essential equipment for hospital staff.<\/p>\n

“We saw our local manufacturers pivot to meet that gap, supply many of the clothing and textile products that we need for emergency services, health care,” she said.<\/p>\n

\"NTES<\/p>\n

The Australian Fashion Council wants to see uniforms for emergency service workers made in Australia. (ABC News: Peter Garnish)<\/p>\n

Australia’s manufacturing history is complex, but there are several obstacles to self-sufficiency, chief among them labour and energy costs, and scalability.<\/p>\n

Australian Industry Group head of industry development and policy Louise McGrath said capacity was categorised according to skill and technology requirements.<\/p>\n

Items such as nuts and bolts are categorised as low-intensity, motor vehicle car assembly is mid-level, and complex products that require the importation of additional technology, such as that needed for cochlear implants, are high.<\/p>\n

Ms McGrath said Australia needed all levels of manufacturing<\/a> to achieve sovereign capability.<\/p>\n

“It can’t just be the finished product that we’re thinking about,” she said.<\/p>\n

“It’s all those bits that get the product to market that are also important.”<\/p>\n

Dressed for success<\/p>\n

Along with workwear, Australia has fallen behind on chemical and plastics manufacturing, Ms Mcgrath says.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Louise McGrath says Australia needs capacity for all levels of manufacturing.\u00a0 (Supplied: Australian Industry Group)<\/p>\n

“We’re really beginning to understand, now, the role that those products have in the broader manufacturing base and, in particular, food and packaging,” she said.<\/p>\n

“We can’t actually process that food without personal protective equipment that we’ve probably bought from overseas \u2026 nor can we get it to market without packaging.”<\/p>\n

The federal government’s Future Made in Australia strategy announced in 2024 seeks to support specific industries to transition to net zero, but does not include plastics or fabrics.<\/p>\n

Ms Delgos said the fashion council developed its own 10-year national manufacturing strategy<\/a> in response to global disruptions.<\/p>\n

\"Plastic<\/p>\n

Major food manufacturers have been affected by the increased cost of the resin that goes into making plastic containers. (ABC News: Maren Preuss)<\/p>\n

She said it was a strategic plan to protect critical parts of the supply chain, such as raw material processing and workforce skills.<\/p>\n

“We could be one of the few countries in the world that could take wool and cotton all the way from farm to finished garment,” Ms Delgos said.<\/p>\n

She said governments could help stabilise the industry by driving demand for Australian-made products between crises.<\/p>\n

“When we think about one of the other largest purchasers of clothing and textiles \u2026 [that] could potentially be the Australian government,” Ms Delgos said.<\/p>\n

This year the federal government spent $20 million on the “Made Right Here” campaign.<\/p>\n

Loading…<\/p>\n

“There’s lots of opportunities for Australians in all sorts of product lines to back local industry and back Australian jobs,” Industry Minister Tim Ayres said.<\/p>\n

Ms Van Zyl was hoped Iran war disruptions would inspire a lasting manufacturing comeback.<\/p>\n

“We’ve got such incredible Australian manufacturers that are here \u2026 why does it take events like this to force the hand?” she said.<\/p>\n

But Ms Van Zyl was confident the industry would endure.<\/p>\n

“If you are good at what you do in manufacturing, well, you’re still manufacturing,” she said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Along with the vulnerability of global supply chains, the Iran war has also exposed the overlooked parts of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":690323,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[64,63,336931,305798,336933,336932,336930,105],"class_list":["post-690322","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-technology","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-clothing-manufacturing","tag-domestic-manufacturing","tag-made-in-australia-week","tag-ppe-and-uniforms","tag-sovereign-manufacturing","tag-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/690322","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=690322"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/690322\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/690323"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=690322"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=690322"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=690322"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}