Prime Minister
PRIME MINISTER: Well, it’s a pleasure to be here today to see realised, what the vision has been for the Space Agency here and Australia's space future. I want to thank Megan in particular, and Kathy, and Enrico and of course Premier Marshall for his great vision and leadership in securing this amazing presence here in Lot Fourteen, which is rapidly becoming the centre of all things when it comes to space, and technology, and cyber security and so many other elements. And it's really, I think, taking South Australia into a whole new dimension when it comes to how South Australia is seen not just here around the country but all around the world. As being an absolute centre.
Today is the 100th anniversary of our RAAF, of the Royal Australian Air Force. And their motto is "through struggle to the stars." And what they've been able to achieve over the last century, all of us in Australia are incredibly proud of and we thank all of those who have served in our RAAF. But what we're seeing here, through that same motto, is something equally as exciting and to see the looks on the young people's faces this morning as they were just here absorbing this. I mean, Kathy's here from Questacon, this is a partnership with Questacon. You know when young people come to Canberra and they go through the science exhibits, Cathy knows all about that, their eyes light up and to see them just completely absorbing and engaging about what the possibilities are.
But, you know, it's not just about astronauts and rockets. It's about floods, it's about bushfires, it's about understanding how we manage our own environment. It's about the technology, which is going to create high value jobs whether here in South Australia or elsewhere around the country. But all of that begins with discovery and our own personal discovery and we have young people in there discovering right now. And I can't think of anything more exciting than completely opening up and exciting the mind of a young Australian. And to see the possibilities of what's there in the future. I was talking to one young girl in there before. And I said to her, "imagine what you'll know when you're my age. Imagine what you'll know." And with all the discovery and all the things that are happening and how quickly - and she just had a huge smile. And it's very true, it's very exciting. You cannot help that when you think about particularly this sector, the space sector, which we have highlighted as one of our key sectors for our advanced manufacturing - you can't help but get excited and positive about the future. Sure, we've got heaps of challenges, we've got heaps of problems, but when you experience what we've just done in the last 20 minutes or so and see the hope and the optimism that is there, I couldn't be more proud of the Australian Space Agency, Enrico and Megan. I couldn't be more proud of our science community, Cathy. And how that has contributed to everything that's happening here. But Steven I couldn't be more proud of South Australia also.
On that note, I'm very pleased to declare the Australian Space Discovery Centre, open.