Kim Carr (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Innovation, Industry, Science and Research) Share this | Hansard source

This is not an ambition that the government can carry alone. This is a project that will require the great strengths of Australian industry. It will ensure that we are able to develop the capacities of Australian industry to compete in what is a very stiff international business environment. Just last year alone, CSIRO spent over $11 million on the SKA Pathfinder in Western Australia. That included work for the hydro-solar storage and generation plants in Murchison. The contracts we have seen that have been let are very significant.

But they are all dwarfed by the phenomenal demands of the SKA itself. The construction phase demands of this project will involve €1.5 billion from the global community. They will take some 50 years to develop because we will have to maintain the project for that length of time. (Time expired)