Greg Combet (Charlton, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Climate Change and Energy Efficiency) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Kingston for her question because there was a very exciting scientific decision taken last week on Friday by the Square Kilometre Array Organisation. Australia and New Zealand had been competing with South Africa for the right to host and construct the Square Kilometre Array project. In a Solomon-like stroke of wisdom, the Square Kilometre Array Organisation decided to share the project development between sites in Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. It is a great result for Australian science. It confirms our expertise in radioastronomy and places our scientists at the forefront of global astronomy and will do so for many years to come.

The Square Kilometre Array is a $1.9 billion project. It is a radiotelescope and one of the largest scientific projects of the 21st century. It will collect vast quantities of data that will be available for the consideration of astronomers all around the world. In the first phase of the project, Australia will build on its substantial investment already at the CSIRO's Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder—ASKAP—telescope which is in the Murchison region of Western Australia. The two governments of the Commonwealth and Western Australia have worked together and have jointly invested to date more than $400 million in research infrastructure for the 36-dish ASKAP and the Murchison radio astronomy observatory. In phase 1 of the Square Kilometre Array project we will build on that investment, installing more than 60 dishes to detect mid-frequency radio waves. We will also build an array of antennas designed to detect low-frequency radio waves.

The SKA is more than just an astronomy project. It will create hundreds of jobs in engineering and construction and put Australia at the forefront of the information technology industry as well because the supercomputers that will be needed to process the extraordinary volume of data from this project will be leading technologies. They will be available to and engaged with Australian scientists for many years to come. Many industrial innovations will also inevitably be generated by this project. It is a great win for Australian science and a great win for Australian innovation and a credit to both Senators Carr and Evans, who have worked on this project for some time.

See this speech in context