Defence Industries

Mr CREGAN (Kavel) (14:15): My question is to the Premier. Can the Premier update the house on his visit to Avalon and how defence spending in South Australia will create opportunities for future generations?

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL (Dunstan—Premier) (14:15): I thank the member for Kavel for his important question. I have just returned this morning—

Dr Close interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The deputy leader is called to order.

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: —from Melbourne, where Victoria is hosting the Avalon air show and also the very significant Aerospace and Defence Exposition. It is the largest in the Southern Hemisphere and one of the largest in the world, and it basically attracts the heads of most of the global companies that are associated with aerospace and defence. It is a great opportunity for South Australia to get over to Avalon each time this is held to demonstrate to the global marketplace the real capacity that we have here in our state.

Unfortunately for me, Avalon this year coincides with the house sitting, so I was only able to head over yesterday afternoon and come back first thing this morning. With that opportunity, though, I did meet with the Defence SA team, who have pulled together a huge number of South Australian companies exhibiting there, and also met with some of the global chief executives who were attending.

In particular, I had a meeting this morning with very senior people from General Atomics. This is a company that has significant operations right around the world. They have recently won a contract with the Australian Defence Force to develop the Reaper capability, much of which will be based out at Edinburgh. This is a great opportunity and it gave me a chance to speak about other South Australian companies that could fit into their supply chain. This is a very important program for maritime surveillance—surveillance for our country, quite frankly. There are plenty of South Australian SMEs and mid-tier firms that can fit into the program that General Atomics have developed to provide Australia with the Reaper project and capability.

I also had the opportunity last night to meet with executives from Airbus. Airbus, of course, are a massive global defence company. In addition to being a massive global defence company and aerospace company, they have a growing interest in both the area of cyber and the area of space. It provided me with an opportunity to talk about the great announcement made in December last year, when the Prime Minister of Australia, the Hon. Scott Morrison, made it very clear that South Australia would become a global hub in terms of the space sector when he announced that Adelaide would host the Australian Space Agency.

This is a great opportunity to sit down with one of the global giants and talk to them about the opportunity that we have here in South Australia. They were particularly interested in our plans to develop Lot Fourteen. Only 18 months ago, it was a major teaching hospital for us in South Australia, but now I think it is the most exciting urban renewal project that exists anywhere in our country—seven hectares right in the centre of the city. I have to say that they have been delighted with the interaction they have had with the university sector here in South Australia, with the arrangements they have had and the interactions they have had, both with Defence SA and the Defence Teaming Centre in South Australia.

I am particularly interested in continuing discussions with them regarding cybersecurity. Unfortunately, this is a growing sector globally. Cyber attacks are now becoming more and more prevalent. Of course, we have growing threats, but with that threat I think there comes an opportunity for defence and cyber companies in South Australia. This is something that we will certainly be pursuing into the future.