HANSARD
SITTING CALENDAR
SEARCH
LIVE BROADCAST
Hansard Dynamic Member Index
Legislative Council - Fifty-Third Parliament, Second Session (53-2)
2016-09-21 Daily Xml
Contents
Pdf Xml

Future Industries Institute

The Hon. T.T. NGO (14:39): My question is to the Minister for Manufacturing and Innovation. Can the minister update the chamber on the University of South Australia's new Future Industries Institute and how it is expected to accelerate the growth of South Australian industry, and is the minister aware of any alternative plans?

The Hon. K.J. MAHER (Minister for Employment, Minister for Aboriginal Affairs and Reconciliation, Minister for Manufacturing and Innovation, Minister for Automotive Transformation, Minister for Science and Information Economy) (14:39): I would like to thank the honourable member for his question and his ongoing interest in the contribution being made to South Australia by our academic institutions. Recently, I had the opportunity to speak at the launch of the University of South Australia's $60 million Future Industries Institute located at the university's Mawson Lakes campus. This institute is set to accelerate job creation and economic growth in this state through supporting innovation and collaboration between researchers and industry.

UniSA Deputy Vice Chancellor, Professor Tanya Monro, has rightly described the Future Industries Institute as a game changer for research and development in our state. Professor Monro has said that the University of SA's Future Industries Institute was established with a completely new research culture in mind, one deeply engaged with industry and with the end goal of building economic growth through relevant innovation and industry participation.

The institute aims to create an effective and sustainable collaboration between universities and businesses, which will ultimately lead to job creation and economic growth for South Australia. The establishment of the Future Industries Institute has enabled UniSA to bring together its research strengths and activities into a single institute that covers energy and advanced manufacturing, environmental science and engineering, minerals and resource engineering, bioengineering and nanomedicine.

The institute has some of the most advanced facilities in Australia, with highly skilled researchers working on a range of new technologies and processes. The potential for transformation in this sector is why the South Australian government has contributed $7.5 million from this year's state budget to support industry engagement activities at the institute. The state government's contribution will support a number of things: mobility grants which will fund salary and on-costs for the placement of up to 12 months of researchers for business and vice versa; access to major equipment and research infrastructure with the funding that will provide for a team of dedicated staff to work with industry in providing expert advice, training and analysis; and research and development vouchers to provide support for projects of up to 12 months, focused on addressing industry problems.

The government recognises the need to diversify the state's economy and assist in the transition towards industries of the future to ensure that we remain competitive in a global environment. As we transition towards high-tech related industries, the Future Industries Institute is exactly the type of institution that will assist South Australian researchers and companies to capture the immense opportunities that exist across these sorts of industries of the future.

There is increasing momentum around innovation in South Australia and we have good reason to be optimistic about how the economy is diversifying. The University of South Australia has grown, diversified and transformed the higher education landscape in SA, and the establishment of the Future Industries Institute is indeed a game changer.

The honourable member also asked whether I am aware of any alternative plans to what has been put forward by the government in terms of our plans for transforming the economy. The answer, quite frankly, is no. The supposed alternative government has absolutely no plans. The SA Liberal Party has absolutely no plans whatsoever. We have gone through their document before, the grand sum total of their ambition, their 2036 plan, which is a bunch of motherhood statements.

We have heard in here before that it makes no mention of things that are so important to this state. There is no mention of northern Adelaide workers, no mention at all of the automotive industry, no mention of submarines, no mention of shipbuilding, no mention of naval, no costing, no details. It is completely light on. It is not an alternative plan. It is not an alternative plan, and that is because the Leader of the Opposition in this state, the member for Dunstan, has no vision and no plan whatsoever.

All we have heard recently from them are plans to ruin each other's careers. Those opposite have been leaking against each other and deliberately trying to do damage to each other. We saw, while the Leader of the Opposition was away, the leaking of the Wingard-Tarzia scheme for a $10 million funding package to provide $2,000 job grants. The government already beat them to the punch with a scheme that was 10, nearly 11, times in size. This one 11 times in size was described by the Leader of the Opposition as an absolute drop in the ocean.

We have seen that grouping within the Liberal Party, the equivalent of the Tony Pasins and George Christensens of South Australia, led not very ably by the Hon. David Ridgway. The best the conservatives in this state have is the Hon. David Ridgway, and we all know that one leak was deliberately designed to do damage to the other side. That polo shirt collar popping, boat shoe wearing group of wets in this state, it was designed to damage them: the leader, the member for Dunstan, Corey Wingard and Vincent Tarzia.

Members interjecting:

The Hon. K.J. MAHER: We are hearing a lot of interjections, Mr President—

The PRESIDENT: The Hon. Ms Franks, point of order.

The Hon. T.A. FRANKS: I believe it will be the same point of order, that members should be referred to not by their names but indeed by their seats.

The PRESIDENT: Please remember that very important point.

The Hon. K.J. MAHER: I thank all honourable members who remind me of these things; it is very much appreciated. We are hearing interjections and I must say the Leader of the Opposition in this place, the Hon. David Ridgway, would probably do well to keep his head down. I noticed for a lot of that he was looking away, the leader of the far, far right of the Liberals in this state, because we have been hearing a lot about what he has been up to.

I would invite him, maybe by way of a supplementary to me, to answer a couple of questions, or at the very least in matters of interest today to actually answer a few questions. The Hon. David Ridgway would do well to answer:

1. Was he involved in any way in the leaking of the Liberal's job accelerator scheme?

2. Has David Ridgway in recent times—

The Hon. J.S.L. Dawkins: The honourable.

The Hon. K.J. MAHER: —been trying to recruit alternative candidates—

The PRESIDENT: Minister, refer to the Leader of the Opposition as the honourable.

The Hon. K.J. MAHER: Has the Hon. David Ridgway in recent times been trying to recruit alternative candidates to knock off sitting Liberal House of Assembly members?

3. Has the Hon. David Ridgway had any conversations with people outside parliament about them being parachuted into parliament and taking over the portfolio responsibilities of one of his colleagues in the Legislative Council?

4. The Hon. David Ridgway would do well to answer: is he involved in the ongoing undermining of his leader?

If none of this is the case, the Hon. David Ridgway can very simply clean this up: stand up, ask a supplementary and say no to all of those. He could say no to all of those. I dare him to do it. Just rule it out. His failure to answer will be very, very telling. His silence will be an admission of complicity. There are many people, not just his colleagues, who will be very keen to hear the answers to these questions. I invite him to set the record straight.

Members interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Order!

Members interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Order! Are there any—

Members interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Order! The Hon. Ms Vincent.

PARLIAMENTARY BUSINESS
MEMBERS
GET INVOLVED
ABOUT PARLIAMENT
VISIT
LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL
HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY
CONTACT