Industry 4.0

Mr PATTERSON (Morphett) (14:38): My question is to the Minister for Transport, Infrastructure and Local Government. Will the minister inform the house what the new state Liberal government is doing to help maximise the industry benefits of Industry 4.0, otherwise known as the fourth Industrial Revolution?

The SPEAKER: Before I call the Minister for Transport, I also warn him. Minister.

The Hon. S.K. KNOLL (Schubert—Minister for Transport, Infrastructure and Local Government, Minister for Planning) (14:39): Did I just get warned?

The SPEAKER: Yes.

Members interjecting:

The Hon. S.K. KNOLL: It's alright, I probably deserved it.

The SPEAKER: You did, minister.

The Hon. S.K. KNOLL: I thank the member for Morphett for the question and note the work that he has done before coming to this place in helping to advance IT systems and helping to develop more technologically savvy and technology forward-looking businesses. Industry 4.0, or the fourth Industrial Revolution, as he put it, is a concept that the Marshall Liberal government has been grappling with and seeking to help advance for some time now.

I was lucky enough in 2015 to travel to Berlin as part of a federal government delegation under the auspices of the Australia Germany Advisory Group to discuss with the Germans, especially a lot of their defence capability as well as their IT capability, around what they call 'Industrie vier punkt null'. The Germans really are world leaders when it comes to developing the fourth Industrial Revolution. It's why it was really exciting having them come over here on our soil in Perth last year to discuss how we could implement some of these ideas and technologies here.

What was really exciting was that last week, on 29 May, I had the great fortune to open the Frontier 4.0 conference here in Adelaide down at the Wine Centre. I was able to open the conference on behalf of the Marshall Liberal government and the Premier. What really excited me about this conference is, when you look at the partners and the sponsors that were involved, they were all private companies.

This was a conference that was put together by private industry, led by a man named Peter Barnard from SAPN as well as the guys from Enerven. They wanted to, of themselves and their own volition, get together and discuss how we can bring our economy and our technology, our infrastructure systems, into the 21^st century and really get the benefits that Industry 4.0 says that it can deliver.

What I am really excited about is this is a philosophy, this is an approach, that the Marshall Liberal government is taking not only to these kinds of conferences but to the way in which we interact with business in South Australia. The best example we've got is the innovation hub that we are in the process of setting up down at the old Royal Adelaide Hospital site. In conjunction with the university and their Institute for Machine Learning, we are bringing together businesses that can grapple with the benefits that Industry 4.0 can bring to the South Australian economy, helping to bring the private sector into developing these ideas rather than always just relying on government to be the answer.

In my portfolio areas, some of the most exciting developments in this sphere are going to come through the formation of our South Australian Public Transport Authority. We need in this place to grapple with the idea of how we are going to deliver public transport services into the 21^st century, how we are going to deliver infrastructure projects into the 21^st century and how we are going to be able to take advantage of these amazing benefits, which can potentially help to reduce the cost of hard infrastructure provision in our state. The idea is we can use our existing road network, our existing public transport network and deliver more for South Australians without spending billions and billions on hard infrastructure.

Mr Koutsantonis interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order, member for West Torrens!

The Hon. S.K. KNOLL: So already within planning there are 3D modelling tools that are being developed. I have spoken previously about the work that is being done within traffic management to improve there, and I look forward to working with many of the businesses that were there at that conference on the day. Can I say that the energy in the room was really quite exciting. In fact, what excited me most is that I was really the only government involvement of the day. Everything else was the private sector getting on with the new government.

My message to them, very clearly on behalf of the Premier and this new government, is that we are here to say yes. We are here to find ways to enable them to go about and do what they need to do. We are essentially saying we are open for business, we are open to new ideas, we are open to taking risks in the knowledge that this will help to bring jobs and growth and greater prosperity for all South Australians.