Katie Allen (Higgins, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to support the wonderful motion from the member for Lindsay and particularly to take note of the $1.5 billion for the Modern Manufacturing Initiative, which will see the government strategically invest in projects that help manufacturers scale up and create jobs, because, in this post-COVID period, we have an opportunity to pivot as a country to the jobs of the future. Our six National Manufacturing Priorities are: resources technology and critical minerals processing; food and beverage; medical products; recycling and clean energy; defence; and, of course, the very exciting space.

We recently saw NASA's Perseverance land on Mars. This mission was tasked with answering the question of whether life ever existed on a planet other than earth. Perched on the arm of the robotic rover is a key tool called PIXL. It takes up-close images of scan areas with X-rays, looking for chemical signatures of microbial life in three-billion-year-old rocks. It is incredible to think about. The Pilbara crater, more than 1,200 kilometre north of Perth in Western Australia, is one of the few places on earth where it is still possible to find parts of the crust of the earth the same age as the rocks on Mars. And that's where some very talented Australian scientists come in. While Australian scientist Dr Abigail Allwood's team has been working on PIXL, engineers at JPL and the Queensland University of Technology have been building software to crunch the data as it comes down from Mars. It will then be Dr David Flannery's job to guide the team of scientists on the mission where to go and which samples to take. The work doesn't stop there. Ninety Mars days after the rover lands, a team of 500 scientists in JPL and the QUT will analyse data around the clock, now and until at least April 2023.

The morning Perseverance landed on Mars, backed by Australian scientists and technology, also marked the time the Morrison government made a big announcement about Australia's own space future. I was very proud that at the time I was on a delegation to the Canberra Deep Space Communication Complex as part of the inquiry into space by the Standing Committee on Industry, Innovation, Science and Resources. Real-time data was being beamed down from Mars as we were there. Incredibly, this mission was on time and on target after many years of planning and many months of the mission. It was incredible to see that it landed within the target it was supposed to, literally on time. They predicted that many months before.

The Moon to Mars initiative was launched as part of the new partnership on future space cooperation between the Australian Space Agency and NASA, backed by a $150 million investment into Australian businesses and researchers to join this endeavour. The Moon to Mars initiative is a five-year program that has three integrated elements: firstly, the Supply Chain Program; secondly, the Demonstrator Program; and, thirdly, the Trailblazer Program, which showcase the best of Australian innovation and capability. To help guide these space projects, the Morrison government will be backing in space manufacturing with a space manufacturing priority road map, which will ensure many more missions and global opportunities happen now and into the future, bringing more Australians into the space industry to compete in what is now a global market, making it possible to commercialise new products and integrate them into global supply chains.

As part of our parliamentary delegation, I was also delighted to meet the new Australian Space Agency head, Enrico Palermo. I wish him well in his new role. He has a dynamic and innovative approach to what is an expanding role for Australia in the area of space. Mr Palermo brings with him strong skills, experience and global connections, which will greatly serve our Australian Space Agency to scale up on a global stage. As we know, the agency itself has been tasked to grow the space industry to $12 billion and, in part, create a further 20,000 jobs by 2030.

The Morrison government is continuing its investment in our growing space sector because we see the value in this. It's a highly innovative and inspirational sector which is providing the jobs of the future. That's why the Morrison government has organised Australia's unique modern manufacturing opportunities to ensure Australia is not left behind. We have the funding, the road maps and the strategies to grow the sector and to provide Australian companies with the opportunity to expand and compete on a global scale. These opportunities are vast and ready for lift-off.

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