The world's biggest medicinal cannabis company, Canopy Growth Corporation, will set up its southern hemisphere headquarters in Victoria, in a move that will create more than 200 jobs.
The company will spend $16 million establishing a hub for cultivation and production in Australia, with a long-term view of exporting the product overseas.
Victoria was the first state to legalise the use of medicinal cannabis in 2016, but only for patients in exceptional circumstances, such as children with epilepsy.
Victorian Agriculture Minister Jaala Pulford said it was a big step forward for the state's newest industry.
"The reasons for doing this are very much rooted in our desire to provide compassion and support for people who need it most, who are struggling with challenging health issues," she said.
"But of course, the opportunity to develop a whole new industry for the Victorian community and for our economy is an opportunity we are chasing very enthusiastically."
She said the company would need a highly specialised workforce with agricultural scientists cultivating the cannabis and chemists refining the product.
"There will be jobs that will be very specialised, very technical, and quite a variety through the types of work that exists within a medicinal cannabis organisation," Ms Pulford said.
"The medicinal cannabis plant has really quite sensitive characteristics and to be developing a product that has the consistency and high standards that our medical professions rightly demand means that it's really precision growing.
"It's a lot more sophisticated than any other kind of growing, the likes of which the government does not condone."
The Canopy Growth Corporation will not be the only player in the Victorian market, where both the Government and another commercial grower are cultivating medicinal cannabis.
Last year the Andrews Government released a medical cannabis strategy, which aims to have Victoria supplying half of Australia's medical cannabis by 2028.
The ABC's Four Corners program has reported Canopy Growth Corporation appears to be preparing for the legalisation of recreational cannabis, taking out Australian patents for its medicinal and recreational products.
