Lot Fourteen

The Hon. J.A.W. GARDNER (Morialta—Minister for Education) (15:38): I am very proud to be part of a government that, after 16 years of a Labor government, during which time there was—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! The minister will resume his seat. Those on my left will cease interjecting. The Minister for Education has the call. He is entitled to be heard in silence.

The Hon. J.A.W. GARDNER: I am very pleased to be part of a government that has taken up the mantle and for the opportunity that has been given to us since March 2018 to improve services across health, transport, police and emergency services, mining and energy, indeed in education as well. After 16 years of a Labor government there was much to do and to confront the challenges that South Australia as a state now faces. We do not see that just as challenges but also as opportunities.

Since coming to government, we have taken the opportunity at Lot Fourteen, of course the site of the former Royal Adelaide Hospital, a site which, despite 10 years' notice that it was going to become vacant, the former government in that whole time failed to come up with anything better than the idea of flogging off this prime Parklands site for thousands of apartment dwellings on North Terrace for people to rent. This government had a greater ambition.

Lot Fourteen is the premier entrepreneurship and innovation centre in the nation. Indeed, in the whole world there are very few sites that bring together the opportunities of space industry, of the defence sector, of the cyber challenge and opportunity to create a hub of innovation and entrepreneurship like no other in Australia. It is very much to the Premier's credit that he had this vision and that it is coming into reality.

The space sector, the defence industries and the cyber sector worldwide are growing areas, and in South Australia they mean billions of dollars of investment, particularly in defence. They also mean billions of dollars in future investments and thousands and thousands of high-tech jobs, worthwhile and exciting jobs, for our children and our young people to take advantage of in the years ahead. Our education system is gearing up for these opportunities.

We know that across the world cybersecurity is a very high area of risk for businesses and for governments, and there is a workforce demand there that is absolutely massive. At the moment, for any of our students or young people who are interested in a career in cyber—whether they are school leavers with a certificate II or a certificate III they can get through school, someone who has undertaken a cyber traineeship such as the ones the Minister for Innovation and Skills has pursued through TAFE and Microsoft and now being funded and rolled out in South Australia, or other vocational pathways or, indeed, a bachelor or higher graduate degree—these cyber jobs are very exciting.

The Australian Cyber Collaboration Centre at Lot Fourteen is seeing the Australian effort in this space very much focused here in Adelaide and South Australia. The Australian Space Agency, SmartSat CRC, the Mission Control Centre and so many of the world's significant space companies now establishing their footprint in Lot Fourteen as well, combined with the tens of billions of dollars worth of investment in South Australia by the commonwealth government in our shipbuilding, means that if our students want a great job in tech industries, space, cyber or defence it is there.

One of the examples of where the South Australian education department is supporting them to get this is through our STEM focus, our work in our schools, our improvements to our facilities and even in some of the smaller things. For example, I am pleased to have brought the national VEX Robotics competition here to South Australia. It was in Adelaide at the beginning of last year, or the end of the year before, and was due to be in Adelaide again this week. We have the state championships instead and we are doing the interstate people remotely. I congratulate the people at VEX Robotics on their pivoting to deal with the challenges of the pandemic.

In particular, I congratulate and commend the staff and students at all the schools across South Australia who have seen this opportunity. It was a great pleasure to be with member for King, Paula Luethen, in her electorate last week when we visited Pedare Christian College. They were hosting a regional event with students from Gawler and District College B-12. The robotics workshop team from Gawler were having their first competition, and no doubt these students will go on to have great careers in STEM.

Students from Mark Oliphant College, Adelaide Botanic High School, Brighton Secondary School and Pembroke School were also there, including the last national winners. These students have so many opportunities ahead of them and, having met them and having seen their passion for STEM, I cannot wait to see what they are going to achieve in the years ahead. I know they now see a future in South Australia that perhaps they never saw before the investment in places like Lot Fourteen.

Students thinking about space industries and about being rocket engineers and people wanting to be the next Andy Thomas no longer need to think in terms of leaving Australia, leaving South Australia and going to Sydney or Melbourne or the United States or South-East Asia for those jobs. Now they see those jobs here in South Australia. This is tremendously exciting work, and I am very pleased to be part of a government that is working hard towards these outcomes and to be the Minister for Education in a system that is doing the work to prepare this workforce for those jobs.

Time expired.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order, members on my left! I note again that there is some difficulty from time to time with respect to the clock that is displayed. I am doing my best to monitor that by other means where necessary.