Nothing opens a door quicker than the words “former defence minister”.
Christophe Pyne has been given another line to add to his CV, this time as an adviser to one of the country’s biggest beneficiaries of defence contracts.
Brisbane-based NIOA hardly basks in the limelight but it has managed to use its trading platform to become one of the government’s go-to arms dealers.
In the last year alone the small arms and ammunition supplier has achieved what many contractors could only dream of: 66 government contracts, many worth millions, and many done under a limited tender arrangement, including an $18 million contract to supply weapons and ammunition in May.