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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fourth Parliament, Second Session (54-2)
2021-09-21 Daily Xml
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Defence Industries

Dr HARVEY (Newland) (14:23): My question is to the Minister for Trade and Investment. Can the minister please update the house on how the Marshall Liberal government is attracting investment and creating jobs in the space and defence industries?

The Hon. S.J.R. PATTERSON (Morphett—Minister for Trade and Investment) (14:23): I thank the member for Newland for his question. Of course, he is very interested in jobs for people not only in his electorate but also for people in South Australia. There is no doubt that there are jobs in the defence and space industries being created here—

The Hon. A. Koutsantonis interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for West Torrens is called to order.

The Hon. S.J.R. PATTERSON: —in South Australia. The recent announcement last week of nuclear-powered submarines being powered here in South Australia is fantastic news. It is going to be fantastic. However, I think that, as the Premier alluded to, there was more to that announcement than just those submarines. The full cycle docking is retained here in South Australia.

It is fantastic news, and I commend the Premier for his hard work in making sure that those South Australian jobs are retained here. It's good for the nation. It helps retain our national sovereign defence capability here, and it's good for South Australian jobs as well.

Of course, in addition to that there is the life-of-type extension of these Collins class submarines, starting in 2026 going through to 2038. That's going to be fantastic, to build out the ability of that platform and make sure it is futureproofed as well. That's further futureproofed jobs here in South Australia.

Added to that are the lifetime extension works on the Hobart class air warfare destroyer as well—again, significant jobs in the naval shipbuilding industry. I think what's also really important is when we saw the trilateral agreement for AUKUS and we saw Prime Minister Morrison, Prime Minister Johnson and President Biden speak. What was really telling was how President Biden emphasised that the collaboration between these three countries is really important in areas such as cyber, AI and also in quantum. These are really future-focused technologies, high-tech technologies, where there is nation-leading capability here in South Australia.

We've got the Australian Institute for Machine Learning based right in Lot Fourteen, one of the top three institutes in the world for artificial intelligence. Added to that, we've got the Australian Cyber Collaboration Centre—again based in Lot Fourteen here. Just think of what those opposite wanted to do in Lot Fourteen: they just wanted to sell it off for housing. Now it is going to be the engine room of these future technologies, as pointed out by President Biden.

On quantum as well, we've got the Institute for Photonics and Advanced Sensing based out of Adelaide University—again, important work being done right here in South Australia on quantum. These are technologies that are going to propel the South Australian economy forward. They are going to be great for jobs not only now but into the future as well. It's a fantastic announcement for this state.

If I could talk also about last week and my Department for Trade and Investment, we held the first defence export and networking event in Adelaide. This brought together all the companies in the defence community, and it was fantastic. They got to hear from the Premier how the government is supporting the defence industry here. But, importantly, it was a great opportunity for us to hear the positive mood that companies have going forward, primes such as BAE, and we also met with SAAB, and, importantly, South Australian companies—Nova Systems, Sage, REDARC.

Interestingly enough, we also got the chance to speak to other companies that people might not naturally think of as part of the defence industry, such as A. Noble & Sons, which is a crane and lifting company. I talked to Andrew Pascoe, and he spoke about the opportunities defence brings for their crane company, bringing them into the supply chain. NDE Solutions is another one. They do testing and inspection work, which really can help them get involved from a defence perspective to help our South Australian companies produce world-class platforms but also for them to get involved in the supply chain.

There are fantastic opportunities for South Australian companies. There are going to be jobs for the future in defence based right here in South Australia. I commend the Premier for his work in securing these jobs and also for bringing the jobs to South Australia. It was a good day for South Australia.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Before I call the leader—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! The minister will not respond to interjection. Before I call the leader, I call to order and warn the member for Mawson and I warn the Minister for Trade and Investment. The member on their feet, who has the call, is entitled to be heard in silence. As I have said, on now a number of occasions, the minister in answering the question is entitled to be heard in silence. The leader is seeking the call.

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