National Research Network

The Hon. T.T. NGO (14:30): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking the Minister for Science and Information Economy a question about improving the bandwidth to South Australia's education, health and research centres.

Leave granted.

The Hon. T.T. NGO: As the information, communication and technology (ICT) sector becomes an increasing part of our day-to-day life, internet bandwidth, the ability to deliver every larger amounts of data at increasing speeds, is becoming a matter of critical national infrastructure. My question is: can the minister advise the chamber what steps are being taken in South Australia to ensure that our education, science and research institutions have access to the best possible ICT connectivity?

The Hon. G.E. GAGO (Minister for Employment, Higher Education and Skills, Minister for Science and Information Economy, Minister for the Status of Women, Minister for Business Services and Consumers) (14:31): I thank the honourable member for his most important question. Yesterday, I was fortunate to be able to participate in the launch of the National Research Network (NRN) at the University of South Australia. This was a landmark event for not just South Australia but also for the nation as it marked the completion of the National Australian Research and Education Network linking the mainland capital cities.

The optic fibre-based network was established in 2002 to address the bandwidth and large data transfer needs of the Australian research and education sector. This far-sighted national project has been a brilliant collaboration between the commonwealth and state governments, the universities and, of course, our scientific research sectors generally.

The fact that the National Research Network was launched in South Australia is no coincidence. The University of South Australia has been the project's lead agent manager in oversighting the $37 million investment by the commonwealth government that funded 12 component projects around Australia. The federal investment tied capital city and regional networks together to create the 43,000 kilometres of high-capacity fibre optic cable that make up the Australian Research and Education Network.

The University of South Australia's lead role in the network flows from its key role in establishing SABRENet, the South Australian Broadband Research and Education Network. SABRENet was built in 2006 to link Adelaide's major research and education sites with an ultra-high capacity, 160 kilometre-long optical fibre cable network. With major backbones now connecting to more than 100 sites across metropolitan Adelaide, SABRENet is a tangible demonstration of the benefits of collaboration within the research and education community. With its very lean and efficient set-up, SABRENet's fee structure is one of the most cost competitive in the world, offering access to dark fibre (that is, unused fibre) to researchers across these sites.

Through the National Research Network, SABRENet is now connected to research and education sites around Australia at speeds far exceeding the long delayed National Broadband Network. A particularly pleasing component of the NRN project is the regional connections project, which will connect university campuses in Mount Gambier and Whyalla.

Thanks to the regional connections project, students from the country will benefit from a wider range of degrees with access to the same curriculum, state-of-the-art technologies, resources and academics as those in the city, without having to relocate. The regional connections project will make Whyalla and Mount Gambier amongst the most connected regional cities in Australia. Their local campuses will go from having a 10Mb/s connection to a 10Gb/s connection, which is a staggering 1,000-fold increase in speed. In the case of Mount Gambier, TAFE campuses and other state government agencies in Bordertown, Naracoorte, Millicent and Kingston may also be connected.

The National Research Network and, the strong local role played in its establishment by UniSA along with the leadership and excellence shown by SABRENet are all very positive indicators for the potential of our state's science and innovation sector. I look forward to seeing the brilliant results from these developments.