Anne Urquhart (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

At the request of Senators Bilyk and Brown, I move:

That the Senate—

(a) notes that:

(i) the Australian Antarctic Division’s (AAD) headquarters is based in Kingston, Tasmania,

(ii) the AAD currently employs approximately 300 staff at the Kingston headquarters,

(iii) the AAD has a proud history of world-leading scientific research that has been led by a dedicated workforce based in the Kingborough municipality, and

(iv) as a small suburban population centre, Kingston’s retail businesses are heavily reliant on the 300 jobs that the AAD headquarters provides;

(b) expresses concern that the Minister for the Environment and Energy, and the Turnbull Government, are yet to publicly commit to maintaining the AAD’s headquarters in Kingston; and

(c) calls on the Turnbull Government to:

(i) commit to the long-term future of the AAD in Kingston, and rule out moving the location of the current headquarters, and

(ii) further commit to not making any decisions that would result in a net loss of AAD staff from Kingston.