High-Tech Sector

Mr COWDREY (Colton) (14:36): My question is to the Minister for Trade and Investment. Can the minister update the house on how the government is continuing to build the high-tech sector, which is helping to grow the economy and create jobs? With your leave and that of the house, I will explain, sir.

Leave granted.

Mr COWDREY: The government is working to create an ecosystem which attracts investment across our economy, but particularly in the high-tech sector, which has great potential to be a key driver for our economy.

The Hon. S.J.R. PATTERSON (Morphett—Member of the Executive Council, Minister for Trade and Investment) (14:37): Thank you for the question, member for Colton—the very capable Chair of the Economic and Finance Committee. We know he is very interested in how we are going to grow the economy here in South Australia. It is great to get a question on this in this house. On our side of the house we are always interested to hear how we can grow the economy.

Certainly since coming to government, we have been very focused on growing the economy and also on growing and building the things that matter. Of course, that includes building the economy, creating an investment environment such that industry wants to invest here, grow here and then create jobs. Certainly, how we do that is to try to improve the economy in areas which are future focused and are going to cause growth as well.

We have announced our Growth State plan, which involves nine key sectors, making sure we concentrate not on all areas but on what the competitive strengths of this state are. Of course, one of those nine priority sectors is the high-tech sector, which the member for Colton has asked about. It is a key focus that this government is working on, trying to build out the ecosystem.

You would no doubt know, Mr Speaker, that Lot Fourteen is becoming a real hub for business and start-ups in the area of defence, be it cyber or space. It is certainly very exciting. It was fantastic news just recently, when one of the world's largest technology and consulting firms, Accenture, announced they were going to establish their defence and cyber-innovation centre right here in Adelaide. It is expected to create 2,000 jobs and also inject more than $1 billion into our economy, really at a time when we need it the most.

It is a massive global company, and during the economic crisis that the coronavirus has brought on it still has the confidence in our state to invest. We are very pleased to have them along here. It's going to be a game changer for the high-tech sector in South Australia and will certainly work towards creating a significant number of jobs and, really importantly, careers as well in those STEM-related fields, which is where a lot of the growth is coming from. Certainly, it is a massive coup for our state on so many levels and it is really going to help strengthen South Australia's reputation as a global leader in the high-tech industry.

As I said, 2,000 jobs are looking to be created here in those STEM-related fields, in fields such as robotics, artificial intelligence, engineering and data analytics, so that is fantastic. It comes from a global firm, as I said, with nearly 500,000 employees, so there is a lot of growth potential there for those roles and those jobs that are going to be created here in Adelaide, to not only skill up here in South Australia but also look where they can improve their skills overseas and internationally. It is really setting up Adelaide and South Australia as that global destination.

In terms of those jobs, they are going to be in three key areas in the national security operations, which deals with cyber and defence. That's going to be really important as we try to grow out the defence sector here and get South Australian industry involved in that. That will help grow them out. The advanced technology centre of excellence is going to be very important, as are also the intelligent operations in the fields of artificial intelligence, machine learning and data analytics.

These roles are going to be from entry level, graduate, postgraduate, even up to skilled and experienced levels, so there is quite a diverse range of jobs available. It is looking to set this up as the ASEAN hub for Accenture here in the region, so choosing South Australia is a fantastic vote of confidence in where we are going. It really shows that here in South Australia the Marshall government is building out that ecosystem, looking to create jobs of the future, which is fantastic not only for our generation but for future generations to come.