Rowan Ramsey (Grey, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Industry, Science and Technology. I'm very pleased indeed to ask her to inform the House how the Morrison government is growing the Australian space sector to create jobs for our comeback from the COVID-19 virus.

Karen Andrews (McPherson, Liberal Party, Minister for Industry) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for his question. I note his use of the term 'comeback'. Of course, there was a massive comeback to his electorate on the weekend, when the Hayabusa2 sample return capsule came back to earth in the Woomera protected area in the member for Grey's electorate. That was six years after that capsule had been sent into space to collect samples from an asteroid that is about 4.6 billion years old. These samples potentially are going to be able to give us significant insight into a range of things, including the origin and evolution of our solar system. It's potentially going to help us understand our oceans. Quite frankly, there are a number of things we hope to be able to determine from these samples.

The Japanese space agency, JAXA, chose to work with Australia because we have long been able to demonstrate that we are a trusted and safe partner. We have an outstanding reputation in the space sector, and that reputation has only been growing since the coalition government established the Australian Space Agency. Space is one of our six national manufacturing priorities. We know that we need to chart our comeback from the COVID recession, and space is going to be critical to that comeback.

Importantly, space supports a number of industries. Farmers use the space capability to monitor the health of their crops, marine pilots guide cruise liners, emergency workers track the progress of bushfires and scientists study the effects of drought. Space is increasingly important, not only to the Australian community but to our business community as well. That's why we have already committed $700 million to the growth of Australia's space industry and why our Modern Manufacturing Strategy will be supporting this sector.

There is a tremendous opportunity for Australia to increase its role in the space race, because that industry is expected to globally be worth about $1 trillion by 2040. The coalition government is absolutely determined that Australia is going to do all that it can to make sure that a significant slice of that comes to businesses here in Australia. We are well on track to being able to triple the size of the space sector here in Australia, increasing the benefits to the economy and, most importantly, creating the jobs that we need now and the jobs for the future. (Time expired)