James Stevens (Sturt, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Last week it was my pleasure to attend the opening of the new Australian Space Agency at Lot Fourteen, the site of the former Royal Adelaide Hospital, on North Terrace in Adelaide. I reiterate, as I've said many times before, how grateful we are in South Australia to the Prime Minister and Minister Andrews for their decision to base the Australian Space Agency in South Australia.

It is a phenomenally exciting opportunity for my home city and state to be the cradle of what is going to be a booming new industry—the space industry. The allied sectors of that include cybersecurity, ag-tech, machine learning, and all the most exciting future growth industries. They are all going to be linked to the space sector. The fact the decision has been made for the agency to be headquartered in Adelaide means that my home state is really going to be the engine room for the space industry into the future. It's important that we understand this is an opportunity; it's not a guarantee. I'm going to be working very hard, both here in Canberra and back home, to make sure that we maximise every opportunity available to us in South Australia, but the basis of that opportunity is the decision that was made by this government to base the space agency there. I was lucky enough to be with the Prime Minister, the Premier and Minister Andrews at the opening last week, and I'm so excited about the future it's going to provide for Adelaide.