The Federal Government’s 2022-2023 budget includes a $1.16billion allocation of funds to expand Australia’s capability in the space sector.The federal budget announcement sees a tangible commitment to the Government’s ambition to grow space capability in Australia, with $1.16billion pledged towards the building of four new satellites on home soil. This monetary commitment accounts for $38.5million per year until 2038-39, with the goal of lessening Australia’s reliance on foreign satellite operators.
This plan is at the core of the Australian Civil Space Strategy, which has spurred significant growth in Australian space investment in the past few years. The establishment of the Australian Space Agency in 2018, along with procurement programs like the $3billion JP9102, have been influential in the trajectory of the domestic space industry, which has grown as a result of more than $700million of Federal funding since the renewed focus in 2018. In 2020, it was reported the sector generated roughly $5.7billion through 829 businesses and 15,235 jobs. The Federal Government hopes to grow this to $12billion by 2030; and is clearly committed to reaching this target.
The announced plan has been named the National Space Mission for Earth Observation, and will be coordinated by the Australian Space Agency. The focus of the plan is the creation of a sovereign satellite program for earth observation, with the goal of performing tasks that are currently not possible without reliance international satellites (e.g. tracking of water-levels, bushfire readiness in Australia).
A total of four satellites are expected to be built, with over 100 Australian companies expected to be utilised throughout the supply chain. The budget announcement predicts that this will create over 500 jobs in Australia’s space sector. It is also hoped that this program will attract foreign investment and allow other countries to rely on Australia’s space technology.
The budget also includes a number of non-satellite space initiatives including $65.7m over a five-year period to establish conditions for rocket launches in Australia. This follows plans to develop Australia’s sovereign space-launch capability by commercial operators Southern Launch and Equatorial Launch.
The announcement parallels developments in the Defence sector that are also aimed at minimising reliance on foreign space capabilities. In particular, 2021 saw the Department of Defence announce the JP9102 tender for the delivery of the Australian Defence Satellite Communication System to increase sovereign satellite communications capabilities.
The last fortnight has also seen the commencement of operations by the Australian military’s new Defence Space Command division to be led by Air Vice-Marshal Cath Roberts.
For further information, please contact:
Thomas Jones, Partner, Bird & Bird
thomas.jones@twobirds.com
