Page 2540 - Week 07 - Wednesday, 1 August 2018
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$375,000 towards the establishment of a space mission design facility, and a year ago the ACT signed a memorandum of understanding with the South Australian government to jointly develop our space industries, well before the federal government had made any moves in this area.
These investments are already paying off. Last September the Royal Australian Air Force and UNSW Canberra Space announced a joint $10 million contract to build three cube satellites, reflecting the reality that most of Australia’s space industry revolves around this particular expertise in building satellites, the vast majority of which will be launched by the Department of Defence and our intelligence agencies, which are also located in Canberra.
The work the Australian Space Agency will be undertaking will be primarily as a nexus body supporting and fostering partnerships, bringing government, industry and research stakeholders together to assist in the commercial growth of the industry. As well as its esteemed research institutions and the national security agencies, Canberra also houses the Department of Industry, Innovation and Science and the Department of Education and Training. The fact that the commonwealth government decided to provisionally base the agency here in Canberra before conducting the search for a permanent destination is an indicator of the fact that we are the natural choice.
Dr Megan Clark, interim head of the Australian Space Agency, who will be conducting the search for a final location, has already stated that we need to engage internationally and also coordinate nationally, and part of that activity is best to be centred on Canberra. As federal Labor Senator Kim Carr has already made clear, Canberra is the natural home for the national Space Agency. That is why federal Labor has already announced it they will base the agency in the ACT permanently.
Astronomy, astrophysics, space research and the space industry have a history in the ACT pre-dating the city of Canberra itself. We have world-leading research institutions in the field, a sizable proportion of existing space industry employment and expertise, and a territory government that has already invested time and money and is committed to the space industry. We were committed well before the Australian Space Agency was even announced. All members of this Assembly today say the Australian Space Agency’s rightful home is here, and we implore the federal government to make the natural and rational choice for the agency’s final home in Australia’s premier space ecosystem here in Canberra. I commend the motion to the Assembly.
MR GENTLEMAN (Brindabella—Minister for Police and Emergency Services, Minister for the Environment and Heritage, Minister for Planning and Land Management and Minister for Urban Renewal) (3.55): I am pleased to speak in support of Ms Cheyne’s motion today. I, too, acknowledge the important role Canberra has already played in the national conversation on the space industry. We have a long history of working internationally on space research and discovery. NASA have played a significant role in employment here in the ACT since the early 1960s. They have invested millions of dollars in infrastructure right here in Canberra.
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