Struan Research Centre

The Hon. M. EL DANNAWI (14:26): My question is to the Minister for Primary Industries and Regional Development. Can the minister inform the chamber of the state government's plan for the Struan Research Centre, which was badly damaged in four fires in 2022 and 2023?

The Hon. C.M. SCRIVEN (Minister for Primary Industries and Regional Development, Minister for Forest Industries) (14:26): I thank the honourable member for her question. The Struan Research Centre has recently been affected by four fires, occurring across November 2022, December 2022 and again in May last year. The fires destroyed laboratories and offices and also damaged a farm shed and vehicles at the property. Thankfully, the heritage-listed Struan House has not been damaged.

However, the affected buildings were used to undertake important lab-based research and administrative duties. The work undertaken at the Struan Research Centre is vital to meeting the future needs of our primary industries. For that reason, I am pleased to inform the chamber that the state government has committed over $5 million towards the construction of a new state-of-the-art research centre located at Struan, with the designs being released earlier this week.

The new facility will be run by the Department of Primary Industries and Regions and will fill the gap left by the old Struan Research Centre and provide for increased research capabilities. PIRSA's research division, the South Australian Research and Development Institute (SARDI), conducts a broad variety of research at Struan into sectors such as broadacre cropping, revegetation and livestock.

The centre has been used in the past to conduct research into sheep and cattle production, management and welfare, as well as research into agronomy, crop production and agtech. The importance of agtech and innovation in primary production is only becoming more prominent going into the future as ability to adapt to changed environments is imperative, with weather changes, exacerbated environmental conditions and incidents of natural disasters becoming more common with climate change.

The ability of South Australian producers to demonstrate their commitment to using sustainable agricultural practices is increasingly important to their maintaining market access and competitiveness in the global agricultural market. Achieving this requires research and development into new practices, and the new Struan Research Centre will provide those capabilities.

The new facility will also provide accommodation for 30 staff, who previously have been operating in Struan House, which, whilst a beautiful building, is outdated and ill-equipped for the type of work being conducted there. Staff will benefit from a modern office area, with more open spaces for collaboration, a large storage capacity, temperature-controlled rooms and fit-for-purpose laboratories. I am advised that construction of the site will begin mid next year and is expected to be completed by around mid-2027.

I look forward to seeing the progress of the site which, once complete, will provide important research capabilities to support the state's primary producers and encourage innovative solutions.