Craig Laundy (Reid, Liberal Party, Minister for Small and Family Business, the Workplace and Deregulation) Share this | Hansard source

I am very pleased to speak about the budget for resources and northern Australia. The government is investing in a global positioning system technology that will create jobs and support Australian industry. It is investing over $261.8 million to develop satellite technology. Under this package, $160.9 million will deliver a satellite based augmentation system, or SBAS. This technology underpins GPS to improve the reliability and accuracy of positioning data from five metres to 10 centimetres across Australia and its maritime zone. This improved positioning will ensure safer navigation, for example, of ships into and out of Sydney Harbour and Botany Bay; enable real-time behavioural modelling for early disease detection for the livestock industry; and improve the safety of the aviation sector in remote and rural Australia.

The government will invest $64 million in the National Positioning Infrastructure Capability, NPIC, which will complement SBAS to improve GPS to an accuracy as precise as three centimetres in areas of Australia with access to mobile coverage. NPIC will establish a network of ground stations to create a coordinated, national infrastructure for positioning, navigation and timing data. The numerous applications will all have economy-wide benefits, quite obviously. Examples include location on smartphones; timing in energy and financial networks; logistics across transport systems; and self-steering machinery on farms, in mines and on construction sites.

A further $36.9 million is for Digital Earth Australia, a world-class technology which will provide Australian businesses greater access to reliable standardised satellite data that identifies physical changes to the entire Australian environment. This data can be used to develop new applications and information services for sectors throughout the economy, such as soil monitoring, coastal erosion, crop growth, water availability and, of course, water quality. DEA will make it more affordable for Australian businesses, researchers and individuals to access satellite data, which can then be used to develop new applications and information services for sectors right across the economy, right across the country.

The government will invest additional funds in 2018-19 for the completion of a detailed business case for a national facility to address Australia's radioactive waste management requirements. The continuation of site engineering investigations and significant community consultation will ensure that decisions on a preferred site can be progressed without delay.

The Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility, a $5 billion investment made in the 2016-17 budget by this government, continues to implement loan payments to encourage and complement private sector investment in economic infrastructure that, very importantly, benefits the future development of northern Australia. I also note that expenditure supporting northern Australia in Appropriation Bill (No. 1) 2018-19 continues to be discussed by a wide range of ministers at the same time. I commend the bill to the chamber.

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