Prime Minister
PRIME MINISTER: Well, thank you very much, Steven. Can you congratulate and thank Steven Marshall, Premier of South Australia, for his extraordinary leadership when it comes to what we're doing here today and what's going to excitedly happen in this country in our space, our civil space industry over the next decade and beyond. It has been so much Steven's drive when we were pulling together the National Space Agency and the pitch that he was able to make and to now have Dr Clark here and to have the space agency open this morning, on time, on budget and getting on with it is tremendously exciting. So thank you very much for your leadership and partnership on this, Steven, it has demonstrated just how well we can work together and get things done, not just here in South Australia, in Adelaide, but right across the country. Can I also acknowledge Karen Andrews, the Minister for Industry, Science and Technology, and popularly known as the Minister for Space in a place like this today. To Dr Giorgio, the President of the Italian Space Agency, it's wonderful to have you here today.
I think, Steven, when you combine South Australian wine and South Australian restaurants, particular Italian restaurants, I mean, when we put the space industry together with that, it was a compelling proposition. They had to come. There was no way they could have resisted with that magic combination, I'm sure. To Dr Megan Clark and all of your wonderful team here at the space agency, it's wonderful had you here. And to all of the honoured guests who are here with us today, particularly those from the diplomatic corps. Your Excellency, the Ambassador from Italy, it's wonderful to have you here as well. Can I also acknowledge the traditional owners of the land on which we meet, the Kaurna people and their elders that are past, present and that are emerging for our future. Can I also acknowledge any servicemen and women who are with us here today and can I thank you and the veterans who are here today for your tremendous service to our nation. And of course, as I mentioned this morning, those who have served in our military in our defence forces and those who've served overseas in other foreign services, the space industry is tailor-made for the skills that they have developed and they have learned in their service of their country. And we're very excited about the crossover between the defence industry and space agency. And as always, it's great to see Andy Thomas here, a great Australian.
We have just come, as Steven has said, from the official opening of the space agency headquarters at Lot Fourteen and I’m sure this will be a topic of conversation here at the space forum. One thing that must be very strange for you, in one way, I mean, this is the only conference where the words ‘it's not rocket science’ will never be mentioned amongst you. It is rocket science. It's not easy what you do. It's very complicated. The other thing you won't hear at a conference like this is ‘it can't be done’. That's, I think, one of the most exciting things about the space industry and the space perspective on the world. The sky's not the limit. It's nowhere near the limit as Andy reminds us. Space has no limits and it has no limits economically, either, for us as a nation and the opportunities that we can pursue.
What we have announced this morning is another example of the close partnership and deep collaboration that exists between the South Australian government under Premier Marshall and our government federally, working together on a plan for jobs. As I said this morning, this is a plan for jobs. It's a plan to radically open up and see our space industry realise its potential objectives. But ultimately, this is a plan for jobs. Yesterday morning I was in Melbourne and I was at the Doherty Institute and there they were the first team to grow and share the coronavirus and share that with the world. And so you can imagine how exciting it is for me as a Prime Minister - as difficult as that issue is, the coronavirus impacts on the globe and its particular impacts here in Australia - that Australian scientists are the ones who are the first to grow and share that virus and understand its componentry and actually invest in the ways that we can better understand that and develop the antivirals and ultimately we put $2 million down yesterday to work on a vaccine and that work will be done globally.
But here I am today launching the Australian Space Agency and it says a lot about where Australia is today and where we're going as a country and at the end of the day, it means this, it’s a plan for jobs. And to show us how serious we are about this as we open this morning, I'm not going to do any Star Trek puns today or any Captain Kirk jokes or anything like that, you'll be pleased to know. I'll leave those to Steven, he's much better at that than me. And Karen's already given the big salute this morning on morning television. But the new headquarters alongside a SmartSat CRC and CSIRO will anchor our coordination with the states and territories and act as the front door for our international engagement. It gives the agency a base in a thriving, innovative city that can lay claim to a growing number of space businesses, added to, it would seem, almost every day. And this is great news for Adelaide and for Australians.
Last September, when I was signing an agreement and observing the signing of the agreement with NASA at their headquarters in Washington, the headline actually was ‘Beam Me Up Scotty’ at the time. But the tendency for some to think that the space industry is some sort of novelty act, that it isn't about the serious economy, well they have another thing coming. It isn't just about showing retro footage about what happened in the 1960s and the incredibly proud role Australia played back in that time. It's not about that. It's not about the past, as rich as our past is and our involvement in the space industry globally has been. And we've got a great heritage. But I tell you, we've got a much bigger future, a much more exciting future. It's a vital piece of the economic architecture of our country.
The space industry is worth $350 billion US globally and it's projected to increase to over $1 trillion dollars by 2040. Our goal is to triple the size of our space economy to $12 billion dollars and to create 20,000 new jobs by 2030. Jobs for space, jobs in space. Our work is to transform Australia into a major space player. We're not mucking around with this. We're not playing around with this. We are fair dinkum about this. You don't put $600 million down on a dud bet. You know what you are investing in, you know what its potential is, and that potential is exhibited in the growth of this room alone over the nine occasions in which you've come together about how serious this is. And in just 18 months, the agency has runs on the board. Already, the agency has signed agreements with nine overseas space agencies; NASA, European Space Agency, the Italian Space Agency, as we've already celebrated, and it has signed up to 16 industry partners: Lockheed Martin, Boeing, Myriota and Nova Systems. Its work is about helping our businesses gain a bigger share of the growing global space market because in this sector, like so many others, scale is vital. Mass is vital. Critical mass is vital, which is what we're achieving here with the space agency in Adelaide. It's like someone going past a strip of shops. There's one restaurant and it's always empty. Go past one where there is five, seven and ten when things are moving and you understand what critical mass really means to draw the eyeballs and to gather the attention of the world space industry.
Our target for jobs and investment aren’t an end in themselves. They're about growing our space industry and seeing the economic benefits that flow from the creation of these clusters and we're building on an existing foundation. Work undertaken in 2018 showed that South Australia is home to 70 space-related organisations, companies and educational institutes with a workforce of over 800 and already active in the industry and working on remarkable challenges. To give an example, the government is investing to establish a world-class satellite positioning capability in Australia. So currently, your GPS accuracy is within five to 10 metres. The new system will deliver accuracy of within three centimetres. That’s extraordinary. It’s mind-boggling. In areas with mobile coverage in at least 10 centimetres elsewhere. It means everything from precision agriculture for farmers and in a climate, which is the climate we know we're going to be living in, climate action now is about investing in space. That's what it is. Investing in the technologies that help Australians deal with the changing climate. And this is why I welcome the broader debate that hopefully we are now having about the climate in which we are living, because it's not just about one issue, it's about many, many issues, and investing in the capability of our technology and our space industry is a key part of that.
It means delivering better yields, more efficient use of chemicals and new systems to avoid accidents on construction sites, workplace health and safety is helped by space. And think about what it could mean for visually impaired people who could be given confidence in every step they take. You combine that with the investment we're making in the National Disability Insurance Scheme, which actually invests in technologies for Australians living with a disability. Combine that with the technology and lives are changed. You’re in the life-changing business, not so the economy changing business. And what happens in this industry is it spills over into just about every other part of modern life. It's a driver of technological improvement and productivity across our economy. Our businesses have so much to offer in new communications technology, earth observation, robotics, automation and so many other fields. As we were learning last night, Moon to Mars. Why are the Americans interested in Australia? Because we know how to dig holes. We're good at it and the technology you need to do it well and to do it precisely, particularly when lives are at stake, in terms of being able to create that capacity for people to be able to live on another planet. This is the stuff we do and we do it extremely well and that's why people are looking to Australia to be partners in these incredibly exciting missions.
That's why we committed, already, $600 million to grow the sector. Now, that includes $150 million that I announced last year to support Australian businesses to access supply chains for NASA's mission to the Moon and Mars, and had the great privilege of discussing that both with President Trump and Vice President Pence when I was in the United States last year - an incredibly ambitious project. But that ambition is driving enormous innovation. $55 million also for the SmartSat CRC and based out of Adelaide and $200 million for Geoscience Australia to build world-leading satellite positioning infrastructure.
Now, these are economic investments that will benefit Australia over the medium to long term. You know, many years ago, the late great Neil Armstrong watched a movie that most of us have seen. It was called The Dish, which I'm sure you're all familiar with. Subsequently, Neil confessed he had mixed feelings about it. He was, in his own words, a technical person and many of the details weren't quite correct. Who would have thought? Who would have thought that they were taking issue with the dramatic representation of a movie. For science and engineers and astronauts, precision matters. But for Neil Armstrong, he went on to say that for most of the viewers of the film around the world, those were not the details that they would remember. What they would remember is that down in Australia, there were some very dedicated people that did remarkable things that were instrumental in the success of man’s first flight to the moon.
Now, these words about Australia's space capability couldn't be truer today, and they're going to be incredibly true in the future. It requires a similar disciplined focus in engineering, a willingness to step up as a country and as a sector and that's what we're bringing to this task. We’re determined to lean in and with a national effort and to be a serious international player and I know Australia's space industry will grow enormously in coming years. Now, I look forward to working with you all as we continue to go out there, on this incredibly exciting mission together, which at the end of the day will improve the livelihoods and the wellbeing of our fellow Australians and people all around the world.
This is an exciting plan, Megan. This is a very exciting plan. It's a plan for jobs, it’s a plan for the future of our country, a plan that I passionately believe in my government does too. We’re going to invest in it together here with Steven Marshall and the wonderful work that Karen Andrews does right across science and technology and industry and with our international partners, whether in Italy, the United States or elsewhere. Let's go.