Defence and Space Sector

Dr HARVEY (Newland) (14:19): My question is to the Premier. Can the Premier please update the house on how the Marshall Liberal government is creating more jobs, particularly through recent positive defence and space sector announcements?

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL (Dunstan—Premier) (14:19): I thank the member for Newland for his excellent question. He is a great advocate. He is a great representative of his community, his electorate of Newland. As a father of three, I know he is acutely interested in jobs for future generations right here in South Australia, and that's what this government is interested in as well.

When we came to government we said, we wanted to stop that exodus of capital and young people out of South Australia. We wanted to stop the brain drain. We set ourselves a goal of being able to get back to a neutral position within our first term. Sir, I can tell you right now, despite some of the negative tweets that I saw from those opposite overnight, those who are absolutely appalled that we are doing well in this area, the fact of the matter is that by the time we got to the March quarter we were already back at almost a neutral situation, and then in the subsequent two quarters we have delivered an outstanding result for South Australia.

I think it has been two consecutive quarters now where there has been a net migration back to South Australia, because young people are feeling more positive about South Australia. It's a complete transformation of what they were facing under those opposite previously, and that—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: —trend was well in place—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order, the leader!

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: —for the first two years. We got back to a position of near neutrality at the end of the March quarter—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Members on my right!

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: —which occurred before COVID. But they can't help themselves—they love talking down our state, but we won't be taken off track—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for Lee!

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: —because we care about the future generations in South Australia and in particular about creating more jobs for that next generation so that those young people can stay here in our state. We have set up our Growth State agenda with nine key areas. The member for Newland has asked specifically about two of those areas, defence and space—and two very exciting sectors they are.

We know that the federal government is embarking on a record vessel build for the Royal Australian Navy and we are the beneficiaries of that new strategy in South Australia. The current projected increase in workforce, direct workforce, is 4,000 new jobs, creating such a pipeline of new jobs. I was down at BAE for the opening of their new shipyard at Osborne. They plan to take on an additional 1,000 people this year. This will be transformational for our next generation.

When we look at space, we get even more excited. This is one of the fastest growing sectors anywhere in the entire world. The federal government has an ambition to treble the size of this sector by 2030, and we should be the home of both defence and space in South Australia. I know that we were very excited recently to announce the project to establish the first state-based satellite—$6½ million for a satellite to be built right here in the centre of the city, right here on Lot Fourteen—not overseas imported, but built right here.

Inovor is a great South Australian company, working with Myriota, working with other people in the supply chain, the space supply chain, in South Australia with two payloads: one for Earth observation, one for the Internet of Things. We are going to be able to use this to create that heritage that we need for the construction of spacecraft in one of the fastest growing sectors. Why do we do this? To give opportunities to the next generation in South Australia, to keep our young people here, to grow our economy and to create more jobs.

The SPEAKER: Before I call the member for Wright, I warn the member for Playford. I call to order the member for Kaurna.

The Hon. S.C. Mullighan interjecting:

The SPEAKER: I warn the member for Lee for a second time.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!