Steve Georganas (Adelaide, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

In the heart of my electorate of Adelaide, on the former Royal Adelaide Hospital site, a real industry transformation is happening, and what's known as Lot Fourteen has become the national hub for the space industry in Australia. It is home to the Australian Space Agency, the Australian Space Discovery Centre and Mission Control Centre and the SmartSat Cooperative Research Centre. It is also home to over 90 private companies, research and educational institutions and government departments in this sector.

This is an industry that has enormous potential to generate much-needed local manufacturing and high-tech jobs for SA and beyond. The target in Australia is to triple the size of the space sector to $12 billion by 2030. In addition, it is estimated that around 1.4 million companies across Australia will benefit from the growth of the space industry.

Adelaide company Fleet Space Technologies, also based at Lot Fourteen, is a perfect example. Fleet, run by its amazing CEO, Flavia Tata Nardini, has grown from three staff in 2015 to about a hundred today. It made history in 2018 when it launched the country's first commercial nanosatellites into low earth orbit. Since then, it's gone from strength to strength. Fleet is now planning to build a satellite hyperfactory at the Australian Space Park at Adelaide Airport. It will be the nation's first dedicated space manufacturing hub once it is completed. And now Fleet has opened its first office in Houston and is partnering with NASA to put the first woman on the moon.

With the sector growing by around 50 per cent over the past 10 years, companies such as Fleet will need a whole generation of highly skilled technicians, mathematicians, engineers, physicists, chemists et cetera, and this will be South Australia's—and, indeed, Australia's—great opportunity and challenge. We need to ensure that we are training people locally to fill these jobs locally. And that starts in the very, very early years. So, in addition to ensuring that our universities and TAFEs are responsive to the growing demands of this industry, we need to inspire children, from their earliest years, to see the beauty and potential of STEM subjects.

The Andy Thomas Space Foundation, launched in November 2020, will also play an important role in this, and I'd like to acknowledge its CEO, Nicola Sasanelli. The foundation, also based at Lot Fourteen in my electorate, will be an interface between the space industry and the wider Australian community. It will support education and training from primary to tertiary levels and promote career opportunities in this expanding sector. The Australian Space Discovery Centre, also based at Lot Fourteen, will play an additional role in sparking young people's imaginations through school programs and other learning initiatives.

I, too, take this opportunity to congratulate the new head of the Australian Space Agency, Mr Enrico Palermo, on his appointment. He brings a great deal of industry and corporate experience, which can only benefit this industry.

I'd like to congratulate all the companies, agencies and investors who have believed in Adelaide and South Australia. It is thanks to these people that we are starting to see the much-needed return of manufacturing and technology in this country.

But I would also like to pay my respects to the former South Australian Labor government, under the leadership of Jay Weatherill, whose foresight at the time—and I remember having discussions with him and him saying how important this industry was—was the catalyst for this expansion of the industry that we are witnessing today. It was that state Labor government under Jay Weatherill's leadership that established Australia's first dedicated space office in Adelaide in 2015. Without this foresight, we certainly wouldn't be where we are today, reaching for the stars.

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