Karen Andrews (McPherson, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I move:

That this House:

(1) notes that 1 July 2023 marks five years since the official establishment of the Australian Space Agency;

(2) recognises the growth of the Australian space sector over that time and the world leading advanced manufacturing that Australia's space industry is spearheading;

(3) acknowledges that space industry development is one of the highest return investments governments can make in modem economies; and

(4) calls on the Government to re-prioritise the space sector as an investment, including as a standalone sector under the National Reconstruction Fund.

When parliament rises this week, we won't be returning until 31 July. But at the start of the next month, there's a special milestone for the Australian Space Agency: 1 July marks five years since the official establishment of the Australian Space Agency. So I'm delighted to be moving this motion today, highlighting the important work of the agency and the great value to our nation of our growing space industry.

I was very privileged in my time as the Minister for Industry, Science and Technology to work closely with the Australian Space Agency; to secure important funding to build the industry, particularly in manufacturing; and to appoint the current head of the agency, Enrico Palermo. Unlike NASA or the European Space Agency, the Australian Space Agency has a focus on private development and businesses rather than state driven operations. The meteoric rise of the Australian Space Agency over the last five years under the stewardship of the agency has been exactly what we envisaged when we established it.

There are many milestones and many achievements with our international partners, with local industry, and with cutting-edge businesses. There are too many for me to list here today, but perhaps one of the most significant partnerships took effect on 3 October 2021, when the Australian Space Agency reached an agreement with NASA for an Australian made semi-autonomous rover to be part of a future mission to the moon. Through the flagship $150 million Moon to Mars Initiative, established under the coalition, the agency will support the mission through the Trailblazer program. The Trailblazer program will include an investment of $50 million in Australian businesses and researchers to develop and build the lunar rover. Australia's ability to develop and operate a rover like this is supported by our skills and experience in remote operations and autonomous systems here on Earth.

I was also very excited to learn earlier this year that the Director of Space Technology at the Australian Space Agency, Katherine Bennell-Pegg, was announced as the first Australian woman to be trained as an astronaut by an international space agency. Unlike previous instances, where Australian astronauts have flown as citizens of other nations, Katherine will train as an Australian under our flag.

Honourable members: Hear, hear!

That actually gave me goosebumps; as I said, I'm so excited about that. She has begun her training in Germany, and she's going to continue right through to mid next year, while she remains an employee of the Australian Space Agency, where she has worked since the end of 2019.

These are some of the very public achievements that have been made. Of course there was the establishment of the Space Discovery Centre at Lot Fourteen in Adelaide, which provides a showcase and an education centre to inspire our young astronauts of the future. It clearly wasn't established just so it could inspire astronauts; it was a key pillar of what the former government was doing to make sure that we were able to excite our young people about the opportunities that could be provided to them by studying science, technology, engineering and maths whilst they were at school.

While the cause of human advancement and exploration is in itself worldly, this is really about building Australia's competitive strengths to ensure we can benefit from the growth of the international space industry. The November 2021 report of the Standing Committee on Industry, Innovation, Science and Resources, The now frontier: developing Australia's space industrywhich, incidentally, was an inquiry I asked the committee to conduct at the time I was minister—reported:

The global space industry is valued at approximately $471 billion, and is predicted to be worth almost $1.5 trillion over the next 20 years.

The space industry is so important to us here in Australia. It is no longer a fledgling industry. It is an industry that is now well established, both in our manufacturing sector and right across the whole range of industry skill sets that we need here in Australia. It provides an enormous opportunity for us, and I'm sure this is a legacy that will continue well into the future.

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