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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fourth Parliament, First Session (54-1)
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Motions

National Science Week

Dr HARVEY (Newland) (11:16): I move:

That this house—

(a) recognises that National Science Week is held from 10 to 18 August 2019;

(b) acknowledges the important impact that National Science Week has in promoting and celebrating science across all age groups;

(c) recognises the important role that science plays in the South Australian economy; and

(d) acknowledges the work being undertaken by the state government to increase participation in STEM subjects for students to ensure that young South Australians have the skills for the jobs of the future.

National Science Week is Australia's annual celebration of science and technology, featuring more than 1,000 events across Australia delivered by universities, schools, research institutions, libraries, museums and science centres. Over one million Australians, ranging in age from children to adults, including amateur scientists and professionals, participate in the vast array of National Science Week events.

There is a large variety of events in South Australia. Of course, we have our South Australian Science Excellence Awards, which recognise the achievements of our local scientists in our local communities and those who support science. They also recognise science teachers, which I think is a really important part of this. There is also the Science Alive event in particular, the one at the Wayville showgrounds, which is a very large event with universities, SA Water and other organisations.

There are all sorts of activities, such as looking at the stars and different hands-on activities: you can play with slime—my children particularly like making slime; you can look at water treatment; growing bacteria—bacteria that glows in the dark; and many other different things. I would particularly like to acknowledge the event director, Brian Haddy OAM, who recently received a medal for service to science education in this year's Queen's Birthday Honours List for his role in Science Alive, which is a really important event.

There are also some other smaller events, such as the Particle/Wave, which is held at the Adelaide Planetarium at Mawson Lakes, the Gondwana Tour at the Mount Lofty Botanic Garden and many others. Of course, in my own electorate, there will be the RoboRoos Robot Scrimmage at Banksia Park International High School, which I very much look forward to attending.

There is no doubt that the economic landscape is changing and that there is an increasing need for skills in science, technology, engineering and maths, and we know that 75 per cent of the fastest growing industries in our state will require some skills in STEM. In fact, last night, with the Deputy Leader of the Opposition I co-hosted the most recent Science Meets Parliament event, which really focused on the importance of STEM education and its role in economic transformation.

We had a number of quite prolific guest speakers. There was Emeritus Professor Robin King, who has an interest in STEM education in schools, particularly looking at some of the opportunities for improvement and ensuring that STEM skills are represented as widely as possible throughout our community.

There was also Professor Anton van den Hengel, who is the founding director of the Australian Institute for Machine Learning, an incredible institution on the global stage right here in Adelaide. He is really focused on the importance of STEM skills and particularly maths. He sees those skills as being absolutely essential in grasping the important role of artificial intelligence in his case, given that that technology is going to be throughout all parts of our economy in the future. He also talked about the incredible opportunities for people who have those skills.

I often say to people, particularly students, 'If you can, stick with maths.' A lot of people do not like maths. I did not particularly like it, to be honest, but I tell them to stick with it because, at the end of the day, it is supply and demand. Unfortunately, a lot of people do give up on maths. If you stick with maths and you have those quantitative skills, you will be very well placed to get a good job as a result. I always tell students at local schools to stick with maths. They do not always agree with me, but I will just keep reminding them.

There was also Mary Mulcahy, who is the Director of the CSIRO Education and Outreach program that delivers quite a lot of STEM education programs to teachers and students. Quite a good one that I liked was where they get school students directly engaged in cutting-edge research, so they are involved in a project that is real, right on the edge, on the boundary of what we know about the world. I think that is important for them being able to see themselves in that role in the future and understand that that very much is within reach.

What was very much impressed upon us by all three speakers was that for a country like Australia, and indeed for our state, to remain competitive in the future it is essential that we have the skills that will enable us to take full advantage of the changing economic and technological landscape. There is a great need to inspire our school students to pursue STEM subjects. I personally believe—and it is probably fair to say that it is a fact—that our schoolteachers play an incredibly important role in this.

I can certainly speak for myself in my own experience, having a career in science before I came to this place, that that decision was inspired by teachers at all levels, even from early primary school, when I wanted to know what was underneath the ground that we stand on. The teacher was quite supportive and helped me research that and do a project looking at all the different layers and everything, which I found quite interesting.

In year 4, we had a teacher who was quite friendly with a butcher. I am not sure that you would probably do this now in year 4, but we looked at different organs of sheep, etc. We looked at their hearts, their lungs and their eyes, and it was quite remarkable. I am not sure that they would do it now quite like we did. Nevertheless, I have never forgotten it, and it certainly inspired my interest in biology and in human physiology.

Then, of course, when I got to high school there were teachers who encouraged me to participate in some extracurricular things. Back then, there was the Siemens Science Experience. I went to the University of South Australia for about three days and participated in various things, from robotics to human health to environmental science, and learned a bit about what goes on there. Teachers play a very important role. Other people who do, too, are some science communicators.

I just want to mention Dean Hutton, whom I was fortunate to meet again at the Science Alive! event last year. I have never forgotten that in year 5, probably—so for me this would have been in 1995—he came to our school and did these tricks with liquid nitrogen. He had this pressure rocket. He had this valve in what must have been a Coke bottle, where he put some water in it, pumped it with air and then it got to a certain point and it would fire up into the sky. I can remember trying really hard to make one of those at home.

I have never forgotten that. I think people who inspire that sort of interest have a really big impact on what career choices you make. Of course, now people say to me, 'Why did you become a politician?' which is harder to explain. Nevertheless, teachers and other science communicators have a very real impact on the sorts of decisions that students will make regarding the subjects they study and the career choices they make.

Recently, I had the great pleasure of opening a number of the new STEM facilities in my electorate at the Banksia Park International High School and just last week at Modbury High School. My favourite part of those events is seeing some of their projects. Modbury High School participates in a competition involving F1 cars. They have little compressed air canisters in wooden cars, and they fire them off along a long track. It is a reaction-time race. I am pleased to inform the house that I won both of my races, although the one qualifier is that my opponent's vehicle failed on both counts and did not even leave the starting line. I was still quite impressed with my reaction time.

Banksia Park International High School had water treatment projects. I thought this was quite impressive. They start with a problem: if we were in a developing country and we had limited resources, how would we go about cleaning up our water? They start with this problem. There is a research phase, where they look up how they might go about doing that and how they can design it. They use some design software to draw up what they are going to make, then they actually make it and test it to see if it works. I think that was quite an impressive process to go through.

Torrens Valley Christian School did a similar project with water treatment issues, not only going through that scientific process but also understanding that we do not treat water in this country in the way it needs to be treated in some developing countries because we obviously have more resources and infrastructure and can deal with it in a different way.

I am also quite pleased with how we in South Australia are going about inspiring our next generation to take on some of these STEM skills with the hope of gaining careers in science and related industries, particularly now that we have a government, and particularly a Premier, that dares to dream about what we might be able to achieve in South Australia. We are seeing this at Lot Fourteen, now that we are successful in winning the national Space Agency, mission control, the Space Discovery Centre and particularly the SmartSat CRC, which is a huge project to come here to Adelaide.

We have the Future Industries eXchange for Entrepreneurship (FIXE), which is an innovation incubation start-up and growth hub, creating an environment that encourages people with ideas to develop and start up businesses. We also have the Australian Institute for Machine Learning, which I mentioned earlier. It is ranked third in the world for machine learning. It is right here in Adelaide and is now collaborating with one of the world's largest defence companies, Lockheed Martin.

This is all happening in Adelaide and is only just starting. As I mentioned before, it is so important for our young people here in Adelaide to be able to see that these opportunities are within reach and that, if they are prepared to take on some of these subjects at a school level and continue to work hard, they can do some quite cutting-edge things right here in Adelaide.

The state government is also supporting the translation of research in South Australia with the Research, Commercialisation and Startup Fund, which is an important funding program to ensure that local discoveries can overcome some of the hurdles that may otherwise prevent them from being translated into a product or a service. This obviously has very important outcomes for our state in finding better ways to grow our food, finding treatments for disease or having other cutting-edge technologies.

In the most recent budget, the state government is investing $19.6 million as part of an $82.1 million package to support six South Australia-based National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Strategy facilities, which was announced the other week by the Minister for Innovation and Skills. These six facilities house state-of-the-art technologies and expertise that support world-leading research not only here in Adelaide but around the world. I would like to mention these six facilities for those who may not be aware of them. They are truly cutting-edge facilities.

The Plant Accelerator at the Waite Campus of the University of Adelaide, which forms part of the Australian Plant Phenomics Facility, is headquartered right here in Adelaide. We also have Adelaide Microscopy, the local node of Microscopy Australia at the University of Adelaide and at Flinders. There is the Australian National Fabrication Facility, which is at Future Industries at UniSA and at Flinders, together with Optofab at the University of Adelaide. The Adelaide node of Bioplatforms Australia has metabolomics and proteomics facilities and expertise at the Australian Wine Research Institute and also at the University of South Australia.

We have the local Adelaide node of the Terrestrial Ecosystem Research Network, based at the University of Adelaide. Finally, the national imaging facility at SAHMRI is another important facility. In fact, there is a very interesting project for which Associate Professor David Parsons will be utilising some of the technology in this facility to live image lungs at such an incredibly high resolution that you can look at some potential treatments for diseases like cystic fibrosis in a way that has never been possible using conventional X-rays in the past. That is really quite exciting.

This funding supports scientific expertise and infrastructure that support important research fields. These range from health and medical research, monitoring our biodiversity and ecosystems, and manufacturing optical fibres and the different applications that can have, to benefiting our primary industries.

I am proud to be part of a government that recognises not only the importance of science in solving many of the problems that our state, our nation and our world face but also the importance of science and other skills in technology, engineering and maths for the future of our economy and the prosperity of future generations. National Science Week is an important part of ensuring that we inspire our next generation to pursue studies in STEM. I congratulate and thank all those involved with this initiative and I commend the motion.

Dr CLOSE (Port Adelaide—Deputy Leader of the Opposition) (11:31): I move to amend the motion as follows in paragraph (d):

Delete the words 'state government' and replace in lieu thereof 'current and previous governments'.

I have done this because I think this is something we ought to be bipartisan on. It is fabulous to recognise what is happening in the current government, but it is probably only accurate and large-spirted to recognise the extent of the work that was done by the previous government, much of which is being continued by this current government.

The member for Newland talked about last night's event, Science Meets Parliament. It was a really interesting traverse of the issues for South Australia and, really, for South Australia's economy. If we are to have a prosperous economy in the future while there is all the uncertainty in the world about exactly what it will look like, there is no lack of clarity that having the general population have a stronger set of STEM skills, be more scientifically literate, more numerate and more generally literate is important. It is also important to make sure that we find those students who are capable of world excellence and make sure not only that they develop those skills but that they then go on to use them in South Australia.

One of the poignant points that was made by Professor Anton van den Hengel, a professor at the Australian Institute of Machine Learning, was that his graduates—in fact, sometimes before they have quite graduated—get taken overseas. They are offered enormous amounts of money, particularly by the US but also by China, to lend their intellectual capital to those nations. We become the consumers, the purchasers, of Facebook and Google, and those countries become the beneficiaries of having their people employed and, to an all too limited degree, a bit of taxation paid.

That is not happening here sufficiently, but it can and it should. We have all the right ingredients, apart from being smaller in scale. We not only have a good education system, the appropriate curriculum and excellent public universities across the country but a good general level of education in our population, all of which are important prerequisites.

As much as we have made enormous progress, there is much more that needs to be done. That was taken very seriously by the previous government and, I am pleased to say, has been embraced and continued by the current government. I am talking in particular about the need to lift the number and proportion of students who are undertaking and doing well in STEM subjects and increasing the general facility of students in their numeracy and scientific literacy.

We have to acknowledge that there are some very serious hurdles in front of us, though, in achieving that. One of them is the impact of disadvantage on education outcomes. If you are a disadvantaged student, if you come from a family where your parents do not have a post-school qualification or, indeed, have not finished high school, if you come from a family where your parents are either not employed or employed in low-skilled and insecure work, on average you will do much worse at school.

I ask you: are you born more stupid because you happen to be in that family? Absolutely not. Our school system is still too much a replication of social disadvantage into education results and not sufficiently changing the outcomes. We have seen progress. We saw enormous progress in the 20 years from 1997 when we went from 50 per cent to 75 per cent of our student population of 18 year olds graduating from high school, but no-one should think that 75 per cent is sufficient. It is common, it is the average in Australia, it happens in a lot of countries, but a lot of other countries are doing better than that.

We need to drive up the last 5,000 students a year who are not finishing high school. In doing that, if they do finish high school, even if they are not specifically studying STEM subjects, they will be gaining their literacy, numeracy and scientific competence, which will be essential. While we talk about the number of jobs specifically in STEM, there is no job now that does not require some better understanding of technology, numeracy and how science works. You will not find an electrician who does not need to understand some electrical engineering as well—the bleeding of the skills from what was regarded as a far more manual job into being able to use a computer.

Last night, Professor Anton used the example of the person who put his solar panels on his roof at home and who had to know how to hook them up to the internet so that the internet could manage how the solar panel energy is used and stored. Every job, almost without exception, every job that is worth having that pays a decent wage definitely, requires a capacity to use technology, to understand technology and to take advantage of this incredible power that we see in computer technology across the world.

What has been happening? We have the challenge of disadvantage. We need to come to terms with how we lift students' results and how we lift the student completion rate and to do that we need to address square on the impact of disadvantage in our schools. We also have a big challenge when it comes to having students choose STEM subjects in the final year of school and, in particular, going for the more difficult, the more challenging level of mathematics.

We have the challenge of the ATAR. I am not a fan of the ATAR. I am not a fan of what happens when a student has achieved a particular mark in a subject on the Australian Curriculum and that subject has been moderated so that the A that student gets is an A that another student in another school in another town gets for that same subject. That has happened.

Then, out of the student's control, that mark will get scaled against other subjects in an attempt—and I think a ludicrous attempt—to work out if an A in chemistry is the same as an A in maths, or an A in dance is the same as an A in English. The scaling happens completely out of the students' control and then they are ranked, a brutal ranking, on how they happen to fall that year against their peers.

Students are intelligent. Students understand that, if they want to go and do a particular subject at university, they are going to have to get a certain ATAR and they work backwards from that. It means that they choose subjects on the calculation that they will not be scaled down and that they will do well enough to get into the ranking that they need to get into. I think that is a very, very bad outcome for our education system.

I urge universities to take seriously the need to step back from the ATAR and to reward students for studying and doing well in the subjects that will facilitate their doing well at university. You do not necessarily need to be in the top 12 students in mathematics to do well in engineering, but you do need to have done pretty sophisticated maths. Say the university said, 'You can come into engineering if you get an A or a B in the hardest version of maths—specialist maths—and if you do these subjects and you pass in them.' That would mean that students would have every incentive to take seriously studying at the highest level.

The previous government not only did the STEM facilities—people around here will have gone to various schools and opened those STEM facilities, which was important and should not be the end, because we did not do all the schools; there should be more—but also put in place a STEM strategy, which was about how STEM was taught and what incentives were provided. I am pretty sure this government has not dismantled this. It was about making sure that there was a STEM leader in every single primary school who had received extra training so that they could bring on the other teachers, who tend not to be specialist trained, so that they would be able to teach STEM subjects well.

We had a focus—and I believe there is still a focus—on Aboriginal STEM, making sure that Aboriginal students are able to learn within a cultural context that makes sense to them and shows that in fact STEM is part of their culture, too; it is just not the way we have tended to talk about it. It was very important and very exciting a few years ago when I went and spent some time with Aboriginal students.

This was the same year that we had the space conference here under the previous government, which really kickstarted this emphasis on space. The Aboriginal students went and they met some astronauts, but they also talked about the history in their culture of numeracy. Of course, we also have these scholarships that I assume are still happening, the grants for non-traditional students who want to study STEM: Aboriginal, low SES and, indeed, women.

The one thing I will say, to terminate, is that I am very concerned about the cuts in this budget to the Department for Innovation and Skills. Nearly $50 million across the four years is being cut from that department, and I cannot see how that will not harm our effort to make this state a leading state in science, technology, engineering and maths, and in innovation.

The Hon. C.L. WINGARD (Gibson—Minister for Police, Emergency Services and Correctional Services, Minister for Recreation, Sport and Racing) (11:41): I rise to speak on the motion that you have put before the house, Mr Acting Speaker, that is:

That this house—

(a) recognises that National Science Week is held from 10 to 18 August 2019;

(b) acknowledges the important impact that National Science Week has in promoting and celebrating science across all age groups;

(c) recognises the important role that science plays in the South Australian economy; and

(d) acknowledges the work being undertaken by the state government to increase participation in STEM subjects for students to ensure that young South Australians have the skills for the jobs of the future.

National Science Week began in 1997, and it provides the opportunity to acknowledge the contributions of Australian scientists to the world of knowledge. It also aims to encourage an interest in science pursuits amongst the general public and to encourage younger people to be fascinated by the world we live in.

Part of Science Week is the promotion of STEM subjects (science, technology, engineering and maths) in schools. Getting young people actively participating in STEM also has crossover appeal to other parts of the curriculum, as well as all aspects of a child's life. STEM education engages students in solving real-world problems through project-based learning and encourages them to innovate and think critically and creatively.

Families with kids growing up in my electorate of Gibson can be zoned to one of three state government high schools: Seaview High School, Brighton Secondary School or Hamilton Secondary College. In my completely unbiased opinion, these are three of the best in the state, government or otherwise. Each of these schools has extraordinary STEM programs, meaning that families in my electorate can be certain that in sending their kids to these state government schools they are being equipped for the jobs of the future.

Seaview High School is a specialist school for advanced technology and STEM, with specifically built facilities, including a STEM innovation centre and a technology innovation centre. As a specialist school, students are able to work with Flinders University's computer science, engineering and maths departments, as well as the Medical Device Research Institute and the Institute for Nanoscale Science and Technology located in the Tonsley precinct, to deliver programs that provide direct pathways to 21st century careers. Seaview students also participate in the Pedal Prix competitions, in which they do incredibly well. The engineering behind some of these Pedal Prix machines that are on display these days is quite phenomenal.

Hamilton Secondary College is a designated STEM focus school and South Australia's only space school, encompassing a STEM innovation academy and the Mike Roach Space Education Centre within its campus as well. The centre includes four main areas that support the space science program: a simulated Mars crater and landscape, with seven different geological zones; a mission control room; a briefing room; and a space laboratory. As a space school, they are the only school in SA with a designated facility and specialist curriculum to lead space education in our state. Partners in Hamilton's space program include NASA, the European Space Agency and the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency.

Brighton Secondary School is currently undergoing a STEM refurbishment, which will see the existing outdoor learning area interconnected with the new STEM learning spaces to ensure a seamless transition between indoor and outdoor learning. Brighton Secondary School offers the STEM Bright Program, which aligns with the Australian curriculum, to prepare students for careers and further study within STEM subjects.

Lessons are collaboratively planned by a dedicated team of specialist subject teachers who contextualise students' learning and make the problems real-world applicable for students to solve. Students at Brighton Secondary also take part in a number of STEM competitions outside the curriculum, including Subs in Schools and F1 in Schools. Mr Acting Speaker, that is what you were talking about at Modbury.

Brighton has twice won the world F1 in Schools competition, beating hundreds of schools in the race for those fast hydraulic miniature F1 cars, completely constructed and engineered by the students, which is an absolutely outstanding achievement. I was lucky enough to be involved with the team last year, Horizon, who won this world championship. Not only do they design the cars and do the cab work and the science elements of it but they also do the actual marketing, creativity and displays that they have to put on on the world stage is truly outstanding. So Brighton is leading the way there.

The primary schools in my area—Marion Primary School, Brighton Primary School, Paringa and Darlington as well—also do a great job in STEM development. A number of people have spoken about what our government is doing as well to develop this and take it from the education side into higher education and then into career pathways, which really is exciting. We talk a lot about space, of course and we talk about a lot of cyber and cyber security—we all know how important that is, as the Minister for Primary Industries is well aware.

When I was in opposition I was actually a co-host of the Science Meets Parliament forums which we would host and which you, sir, talked about earlier. One of the most delightful parts of that role was that we got to hear from Andy Thomas, an astronaut from South Australia who has done a number of space projects, a very famous man and a very highly intellectual man. It was great to hear him speak about the excitement of what lay ahead.

I know that the Premier was very passionate about this and has been very passionate about space. As we look down the road to Lot Fourteen, we know of course that the Australian Space Agency is coming, and we have the Defence Landing Pad there as well. Myriota and the Chief Entrepreneur are based there, as are a number of other businesses. There is also the Australian Institute for Machine Learning—of course, artificial intelligence and where that is taking us.

You spoke earlier, sir, about Anton van den Hengel. I grew up with Anton, a truly brilliant mind. I tried to hang out with him as much as I could in the hope that some of his smarts would transfer to me. It did not quite happen, but he is fascinating to listen to and he really is opening the door for many South Australians, and I commend him for the great work he is doing.

When we talk about science, technology, engineering, maths—the STEM subjects—we do think about that high end and the opportunities that lie ahead for the next generation coming through and how we want to really facilitate that. As a government, our investment in Lot Fourteen is a key indicator of the importance we put on this right through education and into that space as well, and getting people into those industries and the future jobs that lie ahead.

We are also very conscious that science can roll over into all forms of our society. I look at sport, and I speak to my son in particular, who is going through year 12 and looking at career opportunities. He likes his maths. Being a doctor, sir, I take on board what you said about encouraging young people to stay engaged in maths, and I do the same with my son and his mates because of the opportunities that lie ahead. Sometimes young people do not see where the opportunities are. He is a keen sporting fan as well, and I say, 'Look, the opportunities or the likelihood of you going on to be a sporting superstar may not be as big as you think they are', but I wish him the best and support him all the way. However, if that does not pan out for him, what is he going to do and what career path will he take?

When you look at the sporting world today, for example, and the technology and the science around, let's say, AFL football, the data compilation, the stats that are taken, is quite phenomenal. For his year 12 project this year he has done a lot of work in that space, and he has actually used some of the data that has been collected on his under 18 games and tried to formulate what that might mean and how that might relate to someone who wants to get drafted—he still has the hope that he might make the numbers stack up.

That is opening up opportunities for him within a sporting context: how this data and how the science behind the data collected is related to identifying talent that might be good for future drafting, identifying improvements needed, coaching developments. There is a whole career and a whole life in the sporting sphere based around science, technology, engineering and maths.

If we look overseas, if we take that and expand it one step further, Darren Burgess is a great name that we hear of at Port Adelaide. He was their high-performance manager for a long time, and then got poached by an English Premier League team. Again, we see him in a sporting sphere but what we understand is that his background is in that area of science.

When you think about maths and when you think about science, you might be thinking about all these high-tech space and artificial intelligence agencies—and they are very much there for people to take up the opportunity and look at a career path in them—but you can also look even closer to home, look at sport and see that the growth in technology, maths and engineering is immense there as well. That is where I am trying to steer my young son and others who are interested.

You can even roll it over to policing, another area I look after, and some of the advancements in technology and the engineering side of how police work is done, around artificial intelligence; that is growing day by day. The opportunities are boundless. We know that in this place, and we know that on this side of government as well. We want to make sure we are putting the systems in place to ensure the next generation can utilise these, adopt these, and take advantage of the developments and work we are doing through our schools and beyond to make sure they have the jobs of the future.

Mr HUGHES (Giles) (11:51): I rise also to indicate my support for National Science Week, and in doing so I note that an amendment has been moved. Sometimes it is worthwhile acknowledging, over time, that there are a number of things that deserve bipartisan support, and this is one of those areas of endeavour, STEM, that does deserve that bipartisan support.

There are good things the previous government has done and there will be good things that this government will do. At the end of the day, with the passage of time and a bit of perspective, we will be able to look back and determine what was worthwhile what was not worthwhile. Ultimately, history is the judge, but on this issue we should be essentially bipartisan. I will pick up on some of the things that have been said, especially in relation to ATAR scores.

As the dad of three children who went through years 11 and 12, the perverse incentives that are in place at the moment need to be addressed. Two of my children did high level maths and physics in year 11 but, in order to maximise their ATAR score in year 12, they dropped those particular subjects. They both went on to do courses at university that required some maths, and it is unfortunate that a number of students, in order to maximise their ATAR score, take that course of action. You do not have to be a genius when it comes to maths and physics, but it is incredibly good to have at least a grounding in those particular subjects.

I would say that science is the most powerful tool we have developed as a species. It has transformed the nature of the world we live in. It is the habits of science, beyond the material improvements it generates and the insights, that have that potential to feed into the way we think about all sorts of things, things that are outside the traditional scientific realm.

Science generally advances best in societies that are open societies. I had the benefit, after doing 10 years of labouring work when I went to university, of doing a course on the philosophy of science and I found it incredibly fascinating. I got into the world of epistemology. What is the nature of knowledge? They might seem like rather esoteric things to discuss but they are essential. They are incredibly important, especially at this time in world history.

We have something that is deeply disturbing going on. There is a drift towards almost a denial of facts, almost a disparaging of scientific methods. We see it with people on social media, which has given a platform to all sorts of weird and wonderful things. We see it with the attacks on vaccination—one of the great developments that has saved the lives of many people. We see it when it comes to global warming with the rejection of the overwhelming scientific evidence that we are facing the prospect of dire circumstances. There has clearly been a very organised campaign when it comes to attempting to undermine the science around global warming.

It is incredibly important that kids at school—and not all of them will do physics or chemistry or biology or maths at a high level—are exposed to the philosophy of science so that they have an awareness of what constitutes knowledge. As I have said, we are increasingly moving into a world where facts no longer count. For facts to no longer count is incredibly dangerous, and the implications are horrendous.

You can look back on history during the Stalinist regime where ideology trumped science. The example during that regime was Lysenkoism and that had an enormously negative impact upon that society because it was applied to crops. As a result, many people died in Russia because of the misapplication of science and the refusal to accept the neo-Darwinian agenda because it did not fit in with the prevailing ideology in that country. I draw the link between that and the denial that goes on in relation to global warming and the overwhelming scientific evidence.

But the approach to science comes back to the importance of open societies because it is open societies that ultimately do science best. That is not to say that countries like China and other deeply authoritarian countries do not produce science, and sometimes good science, but all things being equal, an open society because it is open will be a far better home for scientific inquiry than the more closed authoritarian societies.

As I said, that fits into the nature of the political systems that we have where an open socially democratic society or open liberal societies, usually an amalgam of the two, are the best. Those types of societies are the best for scientific endeavour. I think it is incredibly important that when it comes to our schools, a lot of our kids might not be across the range of content when it comes to science, especially in the later years, but we should at least ensure that they have an understanding of the scientific process.

The ACTING SPEAKER (Dr Harvey): The member for Flinders.

Mr TRELOAR (Flinders) (11:59): Thank you, Mr Acting Speaker. I acknowledge that you have brought this particular motion to the parliament, and it is my pleasure to speak on it. There has been an amendment moved, but essentially this is a motion that this house recognises that National Science Week is to be held from 10 to 18 August 2019. Amongst other things, it acknowledges the work being undertaken by the state government to increase participation in STEM subjects for students to ensure that young South Australians have the skills for the jobs of the future.

Like almost everybody else in this place, I have seen the benefit in some of our local schools in relation to STEM projects: science, technology, engineering, maths. The amount of money that is being spent on developing classroom facilities to enhance the teaching and learning of these particular subjects is critically important. I am going to take a slightly different slant on this motion today. I am going to talk about one of the absolute pinnacles of scientific achievement in the 20th century at least, and we are about to celebrate its 50thanniversary—that is, men landing on the Moon on 20 July 1969.

I am giving my age away a bit here, but I am old enough to remember this, and I remember it clearly, in fact. I had just turned eight years old. We arrived at school on that day. Maybe it was 21 July for us because we are that little bit ahead of the Americans. Our school, the Cummins Area School, at which I was in grade 3, did not have any televisions. For goodness sake, out on the farm we had only just got the power on, so television was a bit of a stretch. I distinctly remember being in the classroom. Those of us who had caught school buses into school that day were allocated to various town kids so that we could go home with them, sit in front of their televisions and watch men land on the Moon.

We did our best to view the footage. Unfortunately, I think our problem was that we were a long way from Adelaide and not that we were a long way from the Moon because the reception on that particular day was not especially good. Through the fuzz and the haze we could barely make out Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin walking on the Moon. As boys often do, we eventually gave up, went out and kicked the footy. However, the point is I remember the day; it was a significant and incredibly important day.

I have done a little bit of research on the Apollo 11 mission, which of course is the one that did land on the Moon for the first time. It was part of the Apollo program, which extended through the years 1963 to 1972. It was a program that had seen its genesis during the Second World War when rockets were first developed. From that time on, rockets were getting better and better and the goal, ultimately, was to go into space and then, at President Kennedy's decree, land on the Moon.

The Apollo program was designed to land humans on the Moon and bring them back safely to Earth. Six of the missions—Apollo 11, 12, 14, 15, 16 and 17—achieved this goal, the first one being in July 1969, the last being in 1972. I might point out that we have not actually been back to the Moon since. I heard just recently that we are planning to be there again in 2025, but that will be well over 50 years since the first landing, obviously.

Amongst those Apollo missions, Apollo 7 and 9 were Earth-orbiting missions to test the command and lunar modules and did not return lunar data. Apollo 8 and 10 tested various components while orbiting the Moon and returned photography of the lunar surface. Apollo 13 did not land on the Moon due to a malfunction but also returned photographs. I am sure a good number of us have seen the Tom Hanks movie about Apollo 13.

What stuck in my mind more than anything was when either Tom Hanks or the other copilot was calculating the angle of re-entry into the Earth's atmosphere with a slide rule. To me, it was extraordinary. I learnt to use a slide rule at school but I would not know how to use one now. These guys were so competent and proficient as pilots and scientists that they were able to do complex calculations with a slide rule.

The six missions that landed on the Moon returned a wealth of scientific data and almost 400 kilograms of lunar samples. Experiments included soil mechanics, meteoroids, seismic and heat flow, lunar ranging, magnetic field and solar and wind experiments. My brother tells the story of when he was over here in Adelaide at boarding school, and a beaker of Moon dust was displayed in our assembly hall. The boys filed past and one accidentally knocked the beaker over and the Moon dust spilled onto the assembly hall floor. The cleaner went and got a banister brush and swept it all up and put it back into the beaker and it was still mostly Moon dust. He swears that that is a true story.

Mr Pederick: If you hadn't told anyone, it would have been all Moon dust.

Mr TRELOAR: Yes, that's right. It is on the public record now. The primary objective of the Apollo 11 mission was to complete a national goal set by President John F. Kennedy on 25 May 1961, and that was to perform a crude, lunar landing and return to Earth. It was preceded by other programs: Gemini, and I forget the name of the other one. It did not just come out of the hat; it was a dedicated project to landing on the Moon.

Flight objectives included scientific exploration by the lunar module and this is my rather tenuous link back to the motion. The crew deployed a television camera to transmit signals to Earth, which we were able to see in Warrow Road, Cummins, and the deployment of a solar wind composition experiment, a seismic experiment package, and a laser ranging retro-reflector.

During the exploration, the two astronauts, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin, were to gather samples of lunar surface materials for return to Earth, while Michael Collins remained orbiting the Moon. They were also to extensively photograph the lunar terrain and deploy scientific equipment with still and motion picture cameras, so it was filmed.

This was to be the last Apollo mission to fly a free return trajectory, which would enable a return to Earth with no engine firing, providing a ready abort of the mission at any time prior to lunar orbit insertion. Apollo 11 launched from Cape Kennedy on 16 July 1969, carrying Commander Neil Armstrong, Command Module Pilot, Michael Collins, and Lunar Module Pilot, Edwin Buzz Aldrin, into an initial Earth orbit of 114 x 116 miles.

An estimated 650 million people watched Armstrong's televised image and heard his voice describe the event as he took, famously, 'one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind'. The first colour TV transmission to Earth from Apollo 11 occurred during the translunar coast of the CSMLM lunar module. Later on 17 July, a three-second burn was made to perform the second of four scheduled mid-course corrections programmed for the flight. It was an extraordinary effort.

About 12 months ago, I had the pleasure of viewing the Adelaide premiere of a movie called First Man. I was there along with the member for West Torrens and we each had a couple of guests. It is a movie portrayal of the life of Neil Armstrong, and it really depicted him as a man. What came through was the extraordinary skill and ability not only of Neil Armstrong, who was chosen to be the first man on the Moon, but of all the astronauts who were involved in the Apollo programs and the risks they took. They sat atop a rocket, for goodness sake, that took them with goodness knows how much fuel into space.

We have not been back to the Moon since. We have continued to explore space with ever more powerful telescopes and unmanned spacecraft. As I said, I heard the other day that we are planning to return in 2025. I would suggest the astronauts who do it then will do it in much more comfort and hopefully with much more safety than the Apollo astronauts did 50 years ago this month.

Mrs POWER (Elder) (12:09): I rise today to support the member for Newland's motion. What a fantastic member to move this motion for we know that, prior to entering parliament, he was a scientist himself, so it is a great honour to be able to support the motion.

National Science Week is a fantastic opportunity to engage children, adults—people of all ages really—in science, to ignite curiosity and to understand the value and opportunities in the science field. It is true there is a huge array of career paths available to people who study STEM, and its industries are among the fastest growing in Australia. Our own Australian Space Agency headquarters, secured by the Marshall Liberal government at Lot Fourteen, here in the Adelaide CBD, is just one example of the exciting opportunities evolving in this field.

Importantly, National Science Week is Australia's annual acknowledgement of the contribution of individuals in science and technology. It is designed to be a celebration of science for everyone; it is not just restricted to schools and universities to celebrate. STEM skills underpin jobs in every field, including accounting, logistics, policy development, education and market research, among many others. The Australian Academy of Science reports that even a 1 per cent increase in people choosing a STEM career could contribute over $57 billion to the national economy over 20 years. This statistic is especially important for girls and young women as we move to recognise the value of science and STEM as a focus for all students.

The CSIRO reports that less than one in five senior researchers in Australian universities and research institutes are women. Only one in four are IT graduates, and fewer than one in 10 engineering graduates are women. Overall, women only make up only 27 per cent of the STEM workforce. Why is this, you may ask, Mr Acting Deputy Speaker? Research has shown that STEM jobs are perceived as traditionally male orientated, with this way of thinking still sitting upon structures of stereotypes, discrimination against women and workplace culture, some of which manifest from early school years.

That is why National Science Week is such a great opportunity to break down these barriers and shine a light on opportunities in the STEM field for all students and all South Australians. There are some great events for children and their parents happening in our state, such as the Science Alive! exhibition at the Wayville showgrounds and a free STEM Day Out for schoolchildren. This also provides an opportunity for students to discover some of the programs that exist to support their interest in STEM.

For example, UniSA runs a program called STEM Girls to encourage girls in year 11 to continue the study of science and mathematics throughout their schooling and into university. Secondary schools are invited to participate and strengthen their STEM initiatives for girls and to shine a light on further opportunities that support career progression in the field. The Office for Women also provides some fantastic resources and linkages for girls and women to STEM opportunities.

National Science Week is an opportunity to acknowledge and encourage an interest in science pursuits for everyone and to encourage younger people to become fascinated by the world in which we live. In my electorate, Hamilton Secondary College does this all year round as a STEM specialist school. South Australian taxpayers invested $2.5 million dollars to provide a wonderful new state-of-the-art purpose-built learning space at the college which I had the privilege of opening earlier this year. I acknowledge principal Peta Kourbelis, governing council chair Steve Jones, other governing council members and the leadership team for overseeing this incredible upgrade at the school. It is quite an impressive facility.

As the STEM field is so quickly changing and evolving, we might not be able to say how students of today may end up using these skills, but we do know a lot of good ways that we can teach them. Clapham Primary School, in my local electorate, also opened a $1 million dollar refurbished facility purposed for a STEM approach to learning last year. It gives the students the opportunity to work on challenging problems and projects with flexible learning spaces for collaboration. It looks absolutely fabulous, with the ground floor leading into the eco-school courtyard, with gardening and food growing areas, to support STEM teaching and learning strategy.

Special congratulations to principal Jodie Kingham and her staff on their work in providing STEM opportunities for their students. When I was visiting the school, it was the first time I had seen one of those digital 3D printers, and it was quite incredible. It makes me realise how much schooling has changed since my days. It is so exciting to see these wonderful new STEM facilities at these schools supporting local students, inspiring innovation and creativity in STEM studies, and encouraging all students—boys and girls—to achieve even more than they already do. I commend the motion to the house.

Mr PATTERSON (Morphett) (12:14): Here in parliament today, I also take the opportunity to support the motion that this house recognises that National Science Week is being held from 10 to 18 August this year. This year's theme is 'Destination Moon: more missions, more science'. It is a celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 lunar landing and the Moon walk that occurred on 20 July 1969. That Moon landing was one of the great technological achievements of the 20th century, as the member for Flinders also said. It brought together scientists, engineers, mathematicians, chemists, software experts, aerospace technicians and flight directors.

In Australia, the Parkes radio telescope and the Honeysuckle Creek space tracking station played a vital role in supporting and receiving the first televised images of Neil Armstrong stepping onto the lunar surface. Last week, I joined the Premier and key space industry stakeholders here in South Australia, including Dr Richard Price and Nicola Sasanelli, to watch the film The Dish, which was based on the role that the Parkes telescope played during the Apollo 11 mission.

As I have previously spoken about in this parliament, South Australia also has a proud history in the area of science and space. From the late 1950s, the Weapons Research Establishment commenced the Skylark sounding program at the Woomera Rocket Range. This would lead to Woomera becoming the hub of early space activities in Australia, including the launch of the WRESAT satellite in November 1967. This was an exciting time that inspired a generation of school students, and National Science Week aims to inspire students today about space and science. I acknowledge the important role that it will play in promoting science across all age groups.

I was certainly very excited to be present last December, when Prime Minister Scott Morrison and the Premier announced that the national Space Agency was going to be based at Lot Fourteen in Adelaide. The announcement certainly excited so many here in South Australia. The national Space Agency will seek to use science, technology, engineering and maths to design new solutions in the area of space operations and space science, along with Earth tracking, positioning and observation. It aims to grow the space industry in Australia to $12 billion and create up to 20,000 jobs. After the announcement, that night I attended the Glenelg Primary School graduation ceremony, and there was certainly excitement amongst the students and their parents about the opportunities for them to be involved in this exciting new industry that has science at its forefront.

The international space industry is a rapidly growing one, averaging yearly growth of about 10 per cent. The global space economy is approximately $350 billion at this stage. So far, Australia has captured only a small percentage of the existing market, but South Australia itself is home to an innovative space ecosystem that can take part in that. It consists of over 70 private companies, research and educational institutions and government departments and over 800 people who are actively employed in the sector. In the past two years alone, over $61 million of investment has been committed to South Australia's space industry through venture capital, universities, local industry and governments.

The decision to make South Australia the home of the Australian Space Agency can largely be attributed to our vibrant and entrepreneurial space ecosystem. Part of this is because satellites are going the same way as computers, with miniaturisation of electronics allowing instrumentation to be compacted into satellites that are the size of shoeboxes, leading to nanosatellites. These satellites weigh in the order of kilograms. The satellites will be creating the next internet and will help open up commercial opportunities, such as the significant potential of being able to be used in agriculture with the connection of things via the Internet of Things set to benefit farmers to deliver the food we eat.

This is what is fuelling growth in the space industry and it is seeing growth here in South Australia, which will require an increase in data scientists over the coming years to work on the information coming from these satellites. Establishing the agency in Adelaide is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that positions South Australia as a key player in the nation's space industry. Not only is Lot Fourteen home to the Space Agency but it is also being developed as an innovation precinct to be home to leading businesses, entrepreneurs and associated organisations.

At the same time as the announcement for the National Space Agency, both the Premier and the Prime Minister announced the Adelaide City Deal, which commits $551 million over the next 10 years, with the state partnering with both the commonwealth and the City of Adelaide on a vision for Lot Fourteen that sets up Adelaide as a major centre for defence and space industries. Part of that City Deal will see a $6 million mission control centre being co-located with the Australian Space Agency at Lot Fourteen. It will be a focal point for space missions here in Australia. It will provide facilities for space start-ups, companies and researchers to control small satellite missions and enable real-time control and testing and the accelerated development of Australian satellite technology.

In conjunction with this, a further $6 million is being provided for a new space discovery centre, which will provide science, technology, engineering and maths education engagement and inspiration for young Australians. Further to this, to boost our burgeoning space sector here in South Australia, was the welcome news that Lot Fourteen will be the strategic and decision-making base of the SmartSat Cooperative Research Centre, which is really one of the most significant space research collaborations, forged right here in South Australia.

This research powerhouse will bring together 85 international and national partners who have invested over $190 million. This goes with the $55 million federal government support. It represents $245 million of research effort over the next seven years and is another fantastic announcement for South Australia. I would just like to acknowledge the University of SA's Professor Andy Koronios, Nova Systems, and South Australia's Chief Entrepreneur, Jim Whalley, who have been pushing for the creation of the CRC for many years.

The centre will be focused on three key areas: advanced communications, connectivity to do with the Internet of Things, advanced satellite systems, sensors and intelligence to provide the next generation of Earth observation data services. Being headquartered at Lot Fourteen, the SmartSat CRC will unite government, industry and researchers to build on our existing space capabilities across smart satellites, communications and Earth observation analytics.

It will certainly boost our growing space industry. It will also build a sovereign space and satellite capability here in Australia and position our nation as a leader in the global space sector. Our dynamic space sector is also underpinned by an advanced manufacturing and technology skills base, with strong synergies to the defence industries as well. South Australia's defence and space industries are supported by world-class research and development capabilities in innovation.

Taking advantage of not only these opportunities in space but also the defence programs, such as the $90 billion shipbuilding program I have spoken about previously in parliament and also significant defence projects in the cybersecurity field, requires a skilled workforce. It requires a skilled workforce to take advantage of these jobs of the future. I acknowledge the work that has been undertaken by the state government to increase the participation in STEM subjects for students to ensure that these young South Australians will have these skills.

In March this year, I was invited to Plympton International College to help open their school's STEM facility. South Australian taxpayers invested over $3.5 million in this STEM facility, which will provide a wonderful new state-of-the-art purpose-built learning space for the students. Some of the existing buildings were given a new lease of life and turned into an open-plan STEM facility with science learning areas and adaptable rooms to help create spaces that will allow for robotics, digital media and also science learning with up-to-date technologies.

It certainly has an innovative teaching and learning partnership with the University of SA, and Dr Matt Sykes was there on the day giving a data analytics demonstration in front of the students. After speaking with some of those students, it is clear that the new centre has given them a real sense of pride in their school and encouraged them to pursue jobs in the future in these STEM subjects. The Marshall government is committed to ensuring that young South Australians have these STEM-like skills that will give them access to the jobs of the future. I look forward to the students being inspired during National Science Week.

Mr TEAGUE (Heysen) (12:24): I am glad to have the opportunity to speak in support of the member for Newland's motion recognising National Science Week and the important role that science plays in our economy, in education and in so many other areas. We recognise that National Science Week is held on 10 to 18 August. There are events throughout the state, and I encourage everybody to participate fully in those.

I would like to take the opportunity to highlight the work of one of our fantastic science hubs, the Adelaide Hills Science Hub, in particular two events in which they will be leading the way in conjunction with Fungimap. This is a very important area in which a combination of education, research and engagement can lead people of all ages and stages to a better appreciation of their local environment and the important role that fungi play. In this regard, I would particularly like to highlight the very significant contribution made in this area by Dr Jasmin Packer at Adelaide University. Dr Packer has been playing a leading role in the Adelaide Hills Science Hub since it was started in June last year.

The two events serve to highlight the sorts of things that can be achieved in National Science Week and illustrate some of the scope of scientific engagement. We have heard a great deal about some of the marvellous work that is being done in space and what can be achieved when governments bring science to the fore as part of what we endeavour to do as a state. In this regard, the focus on fungi and the health of our ecosystem's biodiversity allows us to learn to appreciate more about our natural environment.

The first of those events is the science expo that will take place on 10 August at Cleland and will run through the day. Its intent is to provide an opportunity for people of all ages to connect with nature and wildlife and to participate, along with friends and community groups, in engaging with the science that is associated with nature, focusing on things like frogs and fungi and having practical hands-on fun. As we all know, Cleland is a wonderful setting in which to do that. I hope that that will be a tremendously successful occasion.

The second of these two events that the Adelaide Hills Science Hub is leading, together with Fungimap, is a conversation seminar that will be held at Stirling library on 15 August. That is really the beginning of an important conversation that we all need to have about the extent of our appreciation of the role that fungi play, in the Adelaide Hills in particular, and the topic of foraging and how we can better appreciate the needs of fungi in the environment and consider their protection when we engage with these spaces.

In that regard, we can draw a comparison with another part of the world which I am quite familiar with and which has a diversity of fungi that people are very proud to expound upon in terms of their knowledge. In Sweden, it is something that really is a matter of credibility. People like to be known for their appreciation of fungi, their capacity to go wandering in the forests and their knowledge of the various different forms of fungi that can be found in the forests of Sweden. Schoolchildren are routinely taken to sites to learn how to have a good interactive knowledge of that particular aspect of their natural surroundings. That knowledge is very much prized and valued in Sweden, and I think it is on its way along that track in the Adelaide Hills as well.

I hope the event at Stirling library on 15 August will be well attended, and I hope it leads to a very valuable and important conversation about the important role that fungi play. National Science Week activities really exemplify increasing engagement to ensure that science and science literacy are brought to the fore. I commend the motion to the house, and I thank the member for Newland for bringing it today.

Mr PEDERICK (Hammond) (12:31): I rise to support this excellent motion by Dr Richard Harvey, the member for Newland:

That this house—

(a) recognises that National Science Week is held from 10 to 18 August 2019;

(b) acknowledges the important impact that National Science Week has in promoting and celebrating science across all age groups;

(c) recognises the important role that science plays in the South Australian economy; and

(d) acknowledges the work being undertaken by the state government to increase participation in STEM subjects for students to ensure that young South Australians have the skills for the jobs of the future.

In regard to National Science Week, I want to concentrate my early comments on STEM and STEM projects in my electorate of Hammond. Recently, I had the privilege of attending and opening new STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) infrastructure in my electorate of Hammond. The new facilities are at Murray Bridge primary school—or Murray Bridge North School, as some would know it—at a cost of $1 million; Murray Bridge High School, at a cost of $2.5 million; and Mannum Community College, at a cost of $3.5 million.

These contemporary facilities will support cutting-edge teaching and learning approaches to help prepare students for future jobs in a range of industries. While every project will look different, the program will see the establishment of many adaptable spaces, which will be ideal for collaborative group work, small breakout groups and individual thinking.

These projects are part of a $250 million investment by the state government to provide 139 of our schools with contemporary facilities for teaching and learning in STEM. We know that 75 per cent of the fastest growing industries need some form of science, technology, engineering or maths skills. It is important that rural and regional students receive similar opportunities for education and learning to those of their city cousins.

Given the exciting new opportunities in industries such as defence and space, continued investment in new STEM facilities will ensure rural and regional students will share in this exciting future. STEM learning looks very different from class to class and school to school. Some of the examples of what students learning STEM may study are:

coding;

designing and building prototypes, like windmills, solar cars and water sampling technologies;

the Engineers Without Borders project, which designs and develops solutions for humanitarian problems like solar cookers, water filtration systems and solar lighting;

agri-science and agricultural engineering;

robotics;

working with local industries and communities such as Lockheed Martin and Parafield Airport; and

developing technical and engineering skills to troubleshoot the source of a problem, repair a machine or debug an operating system.

As you can see, these topics and skills are vastly different from the traditional skills of years past and will ensure that our rural and regional students continue to keep pace by gaining the skills needed to secure the jobs of the future. I am proud to be part of a government investing in rural and regional education, ensuring that no matter where you live in South Australia, you will enjoy the opportunities provided by these new and emerging industries.

I acknowledge the investment in both the regions and in the city to make sure that all students get the ability to be the best that they can be with these new facilities being opened up. Certainly, in regard to my electorate, I was proud to open the Murray Bridge North facilities with the Minister for Education, John Gardner. The students in one room were using a small iPad to drive a ball on the floor, so not only was there a bit of science involved but it was all good fun as well. There are also some excellent breakout facilities and rooms there for students to learn those STEM subjects.

In more recent times, I opened the facilities at Murray Bridge and also went there for a robotics competition day, when students from different schools could piece together a robot that had different tasks, like moving objects over a small barrier and moving the robot to and fro, using phone technology to drive it. I still have a bit to learn about driving a robot, from my brief experience, but it certainly teaches students the skills that they will need into the future as robotics become more and more part of our lives.

Speaking of robots, only the other day I was in the Disability Unit in Murray Bridge High School meeting Pepper, their almost lifelike robot, and saw the great interaction between Pepper the robot and the students. The robot even reacted with me, which was something different, once I had the script and knew what it would listen to and what it would not listen to. I was pleased to hear, when I asked Pepper if robots would completely replace humans, that Pepper decided that, no, they would not; they are here to help us.

There is great development there at Murray Bridge High School and there is more going on with $20 million worth of development. At Mannum Community College the other day, I opened the facilities in my own right, as I did at Murray Bridge. There are some great open-space rooms now, great breakout facilities again, and great opportunities for students heading into the future. I was very privileged to be there to do that.

I want to talk about some of the matters that the member for Flinders talked about, regarding the excellent information he had about the Apollo landings and the Apollo spacecraft. I had the privilege of going to Cape Canaveral way back in 1984. They actually have a spare Saturn V rocket. the huge rocket that launched these astronauts up into space. The reason they had one left over was that there was always a spare in case something dramatic happened on the launchpad. That is the courage that all these astronauts have whenever they do something like that.

We saw that terrible tragedy years later and there was always the thought of something going bang on the launch strip, with all those many hundreds of tonnes of fuel. You could just imagine the thrust sitting up the top of a big rocket going where not many men had been, and you have to commend their courage for doing that. It was something to see this Saturn V rocket on the haul road, with the crawler tractors that would move it around and so on.

The member for Flinders was correct, and the Apollo 13 movie showed how they had to work out on the ground—how to get a square object in a round hole with what they had on the spacecraft—just so that those fellows could get home. They did it, and it is a tribute to science that they got home. Certainly, in light of the Apollo missions and the role that the dish at Parkes played, it was a great movie, but I am not sure how much leeway was given to the producers in some of the reality of what happened.

Obviously, they had to guess when the Moon appeared again on the right side of the Earth so that they could keep up their frequencies. There was a bit of luck and a lot of management to make sure they could get that communication. One thing I noticed in The Dish, one of those bloopers, was that in one scene you see a stack of hay in the background. I do not believe they were making big square bales in 1969, but that is just something I picked up; not everyone would pick it up. Otherwise, it was a great presentation of our role in the space mission.

In the time I have left, I would like to acknowledge our own astronaut, Andy Thomas, from Adelaide and what he has done in going into space, living in space and doing Moon walks. As I said before, I commend anyone who has the courage to do that, and he did it multiple times. I heard him speak the other day at Adelaide University, and he is just a fantastic speaker. He was brief and to the point, but you were not left wondering about what he got up to and the opportunities for people into the future. I certainly commend the motion by the member for Newland. May many more people learn the opportunities they will get through science, technology, engineering and maths across the board.

Ms STINSON (Badcoe) (12:41): Can I thank those opposite for their remarks on this motion and for the member for moving this motion as well. I think it is certainly something worthy of conversation in this place. I will only be fairly brief in my remarks, but I just wanted to draw attention to how far we have come with science education. Certainly when I was at school it was not people's favourite subject. It was a subject that I think a lot of students, at my public school in particular, had difficulty wrapping their heads around. There certainly was not the level of excitement, and I think the level of excitement about science has come along in leaps and bounds.

I look back on my school experience and think that it was really a missed opportunity as far as science education goes. There were some pretty dreary classrooms. It was all about Bunsen burners. They were the teacher's—

Mr Pederick: There's nothing wrong with a good Bunsen burner.

Ms STINSON: There are a few good Bunsen burners out there, and we made the best of those Bunsen burners, I have to say. There were a lot of melted Bic pens over the years.

I do not think that our science teachers, regrettably, in my experience at school, quite demonstrated the passion. The curriculum maybe was not as full and as entertaining for students as it is now. I think that is a huge improvement that has been made over the decades. It is great when I visit local schools in my area to see just how enthusiastic kids are about it and that they realise the importance that it has in our world, whether it comes to the big issues, like climate change, or whether it comes to the very practical issues, like getting a job. They realise how important science is in their futures and in the future of our community. I am glad to see there has been quite a change in our feelings towards science, and I hope that continues to change.

Another thing I would say is that I feel like female students are a lot more involved in science than they used to be. Maybe that was part of my experience as a young woman. It was sort of seen as a boys' topic. Something the boys did was science and maths and girls did drama, English, artistic subjects and humanities subjects. I think that has really changed now in schools, and I think it is a wonderful thing that children of all genders and all backgrounds can have enthusiasm for science.

Children are born with an interest in and a passion for science. Kids love animals, they love asking questions about the weather and they love asking questions about how things work. I think it is natural that children would gravitate towards science and have a passion for it. Hopefully, through the advancements that have been made in education, they continue to have that passion through their adult years, whether or not they have a career in this area.

I also want to talk briefly about the investments that have been made in STEM classrooms of schools across the Badcoe electorate and also just outside it that service the children and families of my electorate. I have been very fortunate to go to each of the STEM openings over the last 12 months, and they have all been fantastic occasions. It has been fantastic to see those facilities at work, to speak with the children about what they have learned and also to speak to the teachers and see how enthusiastic they are about teaching science, as well as maths and engineering subjects.

Plympton International College recently had an opening. The member for Morphett was there and unveiled the plaque. It was a fantastic day. It was great because all levels of science were on display. We heard from university lecturers who have partnered with the school to put those facilities to good use and build new partnerships as far as science education goes.

We also saw the science of food technology. There was an absolutely incredible display of food on offer. I do not think anyone touched it for a while because it looked so beautiful, but eventually we all got stuck into the beautiful food that the students had made quite lovingly for the event. It absolutely could have passed for professional catering. They really knew the science of food in how they went about making that beautiful spread for all the special guests, teachers and students who were there on the day. Their facilities are quite remarkable. I would encourage anyone to check out the facilities there. It is a combined primary and secondary school, and they have really put the facilities to excellent use.

Other schools in my area that have benefited from the STEM works investment are Forbes primary, Plympton primary, Goodwood and Richmond as well. I really commend the builders and the schools themselves that have managed those projects. They have been big projects and they have been inconvenient for the school community in the time they were being built, but absolutely every single one of them is being used fully.

When I speak with students and parents from those schools out in the community or when I am at the school, they all reflect very favourably on those facilities. They are being used every day, and they are really broadening students' knowledge of the world and giving them a passion for science that maybe they did not have before, without those facilities. There are also other investments that the previous government made, and which I am glad this government saw through, that have added to the understanding and practice of science in our schools.

Ascot Park Primary School was the recipient of two pools of money from the fund my neighbourhood project. I know that this fund was cancelled, but the project has come to fruition at least. I was very lucky to be there only a week or two ago to open their new garden. They have a new playground, but the garden in particular is helping them to learn more about biology and food science. The wonderful people from Bunnings have helped them build a series of large planter boxes and a shelter, filling them with beautiful produce: carrots, herbs, tomatoes and strawberries, which are being used for the very delicious strawberry chocolate cupcakes at Ascot Park primary.

Kids really get their hands dirty, get stuck in and not only learn a bit about the plants that they are planting but see them grow up, knowing that they have had a direct impact on the plants' growth. They learn about how the plants grow and then learn about how to use the produce from those fruit and vegetable plants. I think there is no education quite like knowing where your food comes from, how important it is and how important it is to look after our natural environment.

I commend those schools for the wonderful work they are doing. I also commend Dr Susan Close, who was instrumental in the STEM Works program. It is a fabulous legacy to leave: to have considerably upgraded facilities for so many children and to know that thousands of children across the metropolitan area and also country areas will benefit for many years to come from that investment. I also applaud the current government for seeing those projects through, and I hope to see more investment in STEM in our schools. From the discussion today, I think everyone agrees that it is an investment that is well worth making.

Dr HARVEY (Newland) (12:50): Firstly, can I thank the deputy leader, the Minister for Police, the member for Giles, the member for Flinders, the member for Elder, the member for Morphett, the member for Heysen, the member for Hammond and the member for Badcoe for their contributions to this motion.

We have heard a range of experiences and perspectives involving local schools, local science projects and some particular highlights of scientific achievement over the last century, including the Moon landing, which I think was particularly exciting. I think this points to the fact that science really does touch every part of our lives and that this is going to become even more true into the future.

National Science Week is an important initiative and I encourage all members to get involved. I encourage all students to study science and particularly maths. Stick at it for as long as you can. There are plenty of jobs and very exciting careers waiting for those who stick to their maths and their science.

We will be supporting the amendment moved by the deputy leader. We can certainly all agree that encouraging and inspiring the next generation to pursue a career in STEM is important for the future of our state. I commend the amended motion to the house.

Amendment carried; motion as amended carried.

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