Gary Gray (Brand, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Resources) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak in support of this motion on the Square Kilometre Array. I pay tribute to those members who have spoken, because it is true that the Square Kilometre Array radio telescope reasserts Australia's scientific leadership in astronomy beyond the optical field and back into radioastronomy, where, typically and historically, Australia has been extremely strong. The Square Kilometre Array demonstrates again that Western Australia is more than just a mine. It shows that Western Australia is both the cultural leader and the scientific and research leader of our nation.

The work to establish the SKA and the Murchison Radio-astronomy Observatory began almost 15 years ago, and it spans the combined efforts of the Howard government, the Rudd government, the Gillard government, the Rudd government and now the Abbott government; and, in Western Australia, the governments of Geoff Gallop, Richard Court, Alan Carpenter and, more recently, Colin Barnett—genuinely deep, bipartisan support for a research project that is global in its nature and timeless in its quest. It is a project which is every bit the same size and scale as the Large Hadron Collider in Europe and every bit the technological leader not just in terms of the physical astronomy but in terms of the science, the technology and the data processing required to drive a radio telescope that in effect has a baseline as big as our continent and extends as far as New Zealand.

There are, among the multiple nations that have supported this, 11 countries that are providing financial support and technological support to get the SKA up and running. From the New Zealanders, the British, the Chinese and the Americans, we have an international collaboration of very significant proportions. It is an international collaboration because we are building the world's largest technically possible radio telescope. It is 50 times more sensitive that any other radio telescope that has been constructed and 10,000 times faster than any similar piece of scientific equipment on the planet or within the grasp of science as it currently stands.

The significance of the Murchison Radio-astronomy Observatory and of the Square Kilometre Array is in astronomical terms: it will allow the scientific research of astronomical events that date back to the very start of the universe. I am reminded of a rather humorous story about one of the very hardworking Western Australian science ministers—and we have had several in this patch; we had John Day, we had Fran Logan, we had Troy Buswell for a while. When Troy as minister for science in Western Australia was officially opening the Pawsey supercomputing centre, which is related to the Square Kilometre Array, he attempted to answer why we should build the SKA. Troy was asked by a constituent: 'Why would we want to have a radio telescope that could see back to the start of time?' Troy thought for a bit and reflected, 'If we could see back to the start of the universe, we could see the astronomy that underpins the big bang.' The constituent asked Troy, 'Why would we want to see that?' Troy thought a bit more and responded, 'So that it never happens again!' That is pretty thoughtful scientific insight from Troy, who brought both good humour and good public administration to the business of aligning his government with this project at a time when dollars were scarce and priorities were very much focused on the global financial crisis.

This unique part of Western Australia, with its unique landscape, has the unique capacity to put in place the regulations—as has been commented on by my colleague the member for Durack—for the quiet radio environment to allow this project to have the best possible chance of gathering the best possible data to underpin the best possible science that will help grow not just our knowledge of the universe but also our standing as a nation both in scientific research and in international collaboration on that research. I commend this motion to the House.

Debate adjourned.

See this speech in context