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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fifth Parliament, First Session (55-1)
2023-06-01 Daily Xml
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Tonsley Innovation District

Ms CLANCY (Elder) (14:44): My question is to the Minister for Housing and Urban Development. Can the minister please inform the house about the implementation of the Tonsley Innovation District over the last 10 years and what the future holds for this important state asset?

The Hon. N.D. CHAMPION (Taylor—Minister for Trade and Investment, Minister for Housing and Urban Development, Minister for Planning) (14:44): I thank the member for Elder for her question, and I just want to acknowledge her strong campaigns for the community for more drinking fountains and the public toilets being opened on the weekend for local residents.

Tonsley has been going for 10 years and is just about to enter its second decade as one of Australia's leading innovation districts. Recently, Tonsley was inducted into the Global Network of Innovation Districts, which is a group of advanced 21st century innovation precincts seen as globally significant sites. In 2008, vehicle manufacturing ceased, and in 2010 the Rann government bought the 61 hectare site from Mitsubishi with a view to turning it into an innovation hub. The government at the time identified four sectors to focus on: health and medical devices, cleantech and renewable energy, automation software and simulation, and mining and energy services.

Tonsley's success has come from a willingness to share ideas and knowledge. We have had specialist companies such as SAGE Automation, Micro-X, BAE Systems and others mentor and promote careers in STEM and that has fitted perfectly with having academic campuses on site providing direct access to a pool of trained job-ready workers, enabling businesses to rapidly upscale. We have Flinders University and TAFE with around 8,500 students currently using the site for their studies, 140 organisations calling Tonsley home and more than 2,000 people working there, more than double than when Mitsubishi closed.

Some of the really great outcomes from the innovation projects that have come out of Tonsley include SAGE Automation having manufactured control panels for Singapore's Changi Airport and lane-change sequencing technology for Sydney Harbor Bridge, Micro-X lightweight X-ray machines supporting doctors on the frontline in Ukraine, Accurate Dosing Systems creating robots to formulate some of the world's top fragrances—

An honourable member interjecting:

The Hon. N.D. CHAMPION: That is a popular one—BAE Systems and Flinders uni are using Tonsley as a test bed to find ways to make Osborne one of the safest and most productive shipyards in the world.

Mr Telfer interjecting:

The Hon. N.D. CHAMPION: Good to hear from you, Sam, as always.

Mr Telfer interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order, member for Flinders!

The Hon. N.D. CHAMPION: Along with all of that, importantly at Tonsley, 500 residents calling Tonsley home and more than 1,800 when the project is complete, helping to answer many of the demands of our housing crisis at the moment. In the energy space, the site is very energy efficient: 13,000 solar panels on the main assembly building producing up to 80 per cent of Tonsley's electricity; a new 10-megawatt battery to be installed on the site, further adding to the energy efficiency; Hydrogen Park, Australia's first green hydrogen production facility and currently home to Australia's largest electrolyser—not for long, though, not for long.

A measure of Tonsley's success is that we had to build a hotel there to accommodate all of the national and international travellers coming there for business and study, La Loft hotel, which I opened, with 88 rooms down there servicing the needs of visitors at the site, a very modern bar—

Members interjecting:

The Hon. N.D. CHAMPION: I open all sorts of stuff—and we are only half way through the 20-year master plan. That is just the first 10 years. The next 10 years will be even more successful for Tonsley.

Members interjecting:

The Hon. N.D. CHAMPION: I hear those opposite—they hate success.

The SPEAKER: Member for Hammond!

The Hon. N.D. CHAMPION: There's nothing that gets them going, there's nothing that gets them more animated—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. N.D. CHAMPION: —than progress and success, green energy, jobs—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. N.D. CHAMPION: —there is nothing that makes you more upset.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for Morialta!

The Hon. N.D. CHAMPION: Nothing gets you more upset than progress. That is why—

The SPEAKER: Member for Hammond!

The Hon. N.D. CHAMPION: —you oppose major events, that's why you close innovation districts, that's why you oppose economic growth.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Minister, your time has expired.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

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