Adelaide Gig City Program

The Hon. J.M. GAZZOLA (14:40): My question is to the Minister for Science and Information Economy. Can the minister update the chamber on the government's excellent Gig City initiative and what this may mean for South Australia?

The Hon. K.J. MAHER (Minister for Employment, Minister for Aboriginal Affairs and Reconciliation, Minister for Manufacturing and Innovation, Minister for Automotive Transformation, Minister for Science and Information Economy) (14:40): I thank the honourable member for his very important question. I am sorry to inform the honourable member that Gig City does not refer to a rock and roll band playing in pubs. The honourable member is referred to by other members of this chamber as 'John Gazzola the ayatollah of rock 'n' roll,' but he needs to be referred to as the Hon. John Gazzola because it would be unparliamentary not to do so. In this case, Gig City refers to a gigabit city; that is, a city that has both uploads and downloads of one gigabit capabilities.

Last week, we announced the Adelaide Gig City program. This will make Adelaide the first gig city in Australia, connecting businesses and start-ups within Adelaide's key innovation precincts to extremely fast broadband speeds of one gigabit per second or higher—both upload and download speeds. This is a major announcement for South Australia. The state government is investing almost $5 million in this ultrafast internet. It has the potential to be a game-changer for some areas of the South Australian economy, attracting new high-tech companies, disruptors and cultural creatives to our state.

The Gig City network will offer businesses located in Adelaide's innovation precincts internet speeds of up to 100 times faster than the national average speed and approximately 10 times faster than the download speeds of the National Broadband Network. Gig City has the capacity to drive significant economic development and job creation opportunities and will help cement South Australia as the centre of innovation and entrepreneurship in our region.

Ultrafast broadband speeds of one gigabit per second and up to 10 gigabits per second, if businesses invest in additional end-user technology, will be delivered to our innovation precincts. This will enable the development of cutting-edge, data-intensive businesses that depend on the use of high-definition videoconferencing, image processing, simulation, big-data analysis or cloud computing. Our state's emerging high-tech sectors, such as biotech, advanced manufacturing and film post-production are set to benefit from this significant investment.

We have received much positive feedback since the announcement. For example, I would like to share with the chamber the views of Matthew and Luke Wilson from Novus Res, which is located in the St Paul's creative innovation building, who said:

We were very pleased to learn of this announcement. Virtual reality and 360 video in particular rely on large files and big data streams so this new high speed internet is going to have a big impact on our business significantly reducing file transfer times saving hours every week for our developers. In addition this initiative will provide us with the level of internet connectivity we need to continue the local development of our real time 360 VR camera system which relies heavily on good internet access.

I also met, in the last week, with Jonathan Soong from Makers Empire, who said:

The new Gig City initiative is fantastic! At Makers Empire we are pursuing overseas opportunities and are video calling China and the USA daily. Fast internet [speeds] at St Paul's means we can develop our inside sales team on-site.

Also, from the Made in Katana business that I again met with over the last week or so, Adam Callen said:

Our creative capabilities are now truly only limited by our own imaginations; our heads are spinning with ideas for creating VR experiences…amongst countless other pieces of content and technology for our clients including Warner International, Capitol Records, Universal Music and Foxtel.

It's no secret that all states have been engaging in a lot of talk, meetings and workshops about innovation, but this is the first time we've seen an action that represents a tangible difference not just to our business, but the entire state. We've always been proud to boast the fact that we create world-class creative technology in Adelaide and this latest news has well and truly highlighted why.

We are committed to building the infrastructure that is needed for the future, driving the growth of innovative and high-tech businesses in this state. The Adelaide Gig City project will be delivered using the existing SABRENet network, which is owned by the state government and our three universities, very significantly reducing the cost that otherwise would have been associated with building such a network from scratch.

SABRENet is an optical fibre telecommunications network running across metropolitan Adelaide that currently connects the state's research and educational sites across the city. Over the coming weeks, the government's SABRENet will consult with industry and the market about end-user connections and services, and I look forward to informing the chamber of these developments as they occur.

Also, we are currently negotiating with US Ignite, a US based not-for-profit organisation that promotes the development of applications and services for ultrafast broadband networks. A partnership with the US Ignite network will deliver significant opportunities for Adelaide-based Gig City businesses, enabling them to collaborate and share information with their US counterparts.

We are committed to supporting innovative businesses and such businesses in high-tech industries that will underpin the economy and create jobs of the future. We know from other cities that have gone down this path, like Chattanooga in the US that also invested in its own fibre-optic cable network and high-speed interconnection, that there are potential huge benefits, economic, social benefits and job creation possibilities.

Adelaide is already perfectly placed to be the region's testbed for new ideas and new businesses. Now Adelaide Gig City will help make South Australia the most connected place, certainly in our region and possibly in the Southern Hemisphere, coupled with the increasing vibrant culture in our CBD, the default location for Australia's best and brightest to start a new high-tech company.