Adelaide Gig City Program

The Hon. A.L. McLACHLAN (14:48): Supplementary arising out of the minister's answer: how many new jobs have been projected by the government as a consequence of this initiative?

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) (14:48): I thank the honourable member very much for his very incisive question. He is looking more 'leadership-ish' every single day with every single question and every single supplementary.

Members interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Order! The minister is trying to answer the question.

The Hon. K.J. MAHER: The answer to that is: as many as possible. I think, as the honourable member knows, because he has such an interest and such a deep understanding in this area, that is part of the field in this innovation space. It is very hard to predict just how far this will go and just how many jobs might be created. The honourable member is probably aware, because of his great interest in these areas and his very diligent research, that, as an example, Chattanooga—generally recognised as the world's first gigabit city—when they invested in that city, a city of only 171,000 people, they credited their gigabit fibre network with creating over 3,000 new jobs.

Members interjecting:

The Hon. K.J. MAHER: In a city of under 200,000.