Assistant Industry and Innovation Minister Kate Lundy today released
Australia’s long awaited Satellite Utilisation Policy today at Mount Stromlo. In
essence it is Australia’s first Space Policy, and one that has been under
consultation and development for many years now. It can be found on the
Australian Government Space website
here,
or direct download link
here.
The opening line probably summarises the document best ‘Australia aims to achieve on-going,
cost-effective access to the space capabilities on which the nation relies now
and in the future’. This is what we need as the bare minimum from our space
policy. It is also clear from the outset, that the document wants to head off
any speculation that we’re about to send Aussie’s to the moon, by focussing
more on Satellites and satellite utilisation – ‘Australia’s Satellite Utilisation Policy does not commit Australia to
human spaceflight, domestic launch capabilities or to the exploration of other
planets.’ It also commences with a strong case as to why Australia needs a
space policy, helps justify the clear need for an Australian space policy.
The policy identifies the overall goal for the Australian
Space Policy as:
Achieve on-going,
cost-effective access to the space capabilities on which we rely.
And follows up with five major benefits that will flow to Australia
by achieving this goal, including:
- Improved Productivity: space capabilities such
as satellite imagery and high accuracy positioning deliver information that
brings about greater efficiencies and encourages innovation.
- Better Environmental Management: satellite
information enables effective environmental management across Australia’s
extensive and often inaccessible land and ocean territory.
- A Safe and Secure Australia: space capabilities
are important contributors to national security, law enforcement and to the
safety of all Australians in disasters.
- A Smarter Workforce: space capabilities help
transform existing industries and build new ones that provide quality jobs.
- Equity of Access to Information and Services:
satellite communications enable high-speed, universal access to TV
broadcasting, internet and telephone services.
The policy then examines how it will achieve each of the
seven principles that were previously released by the government, providing a
much more comprehensive definition on what the government will do to achieve
each of the principles.
The document concludes by providing some description of how
the organisation or space responsibility will be achieved under the new policy.
Overall, I am delighted with the policy document, and the
government should be commended for its extensive consultation process with all
industry stakeholders over the past few years. The document has taken a
constructive and positive approach to the Australian space sector, whilst
remaining measured and conservative in what it is trying to achieve, which I
believe will ultimately contribute to its sustainability, community support and
overall success.
There are several specific points of the policy that I am
very pleased to see:
- The document forms its basis around the economic
benefits to Australia from space – ‘Over
four billion dollars of GDP is derived from space capabilities.’ I believe
this approach lends credibility and weight to the policy, and improves the
justification of the policy to the Australian public.
- Principle
4 – Contribute to a Stable Space environment – which will allow the
Department of Foreign Affairs to ramp up Australia’s diplomatic efforts in
protecting the space environment for all to use, but also in negotiating international
agreements surrounding space.
- Several mentions about the education, skills and
capability needs of the industry, and identification of how these can and
should be improved
- Linkages between defence and civilian space –
should be kept separate at government level, but due to size of Australia, both
defence and civilian space need to be supported by a single and coherent
Australian space community.
- Specific identification of our priority allies
and partners, as well as a desire to increase cooperation with countries in our
region – ‘Relationships with key allies
and partners including the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada and New
Zealand, Japan and the European Union are a priority. Consistent with the
Australia in the Asian Century White Paper, Australia will increase its
engagement with regional neighbours with expanding capabilities that may
complement Australia’s space capabilities.’ It will certainly be
interesting to see what follows with each of the nations mentioned.
- The strong statements related to the increase of
Australian defence space capabilities, which mirror other public defence
strategy positions. I will be keeping a close eye on the next defence white
paper to see if there are any new space capabilities announced. I also like the
idea of the establishment of the ‘Space
Community of Interest’ within defence to bring together ‘interested parties from industry, academia
and government together to explore vulnerabilities, including interdependencies
between space-related infrastructure and critical infrastructure, and to
develop options to mitigate risk.’ This will help leverage the skills and
expertise beyond those within the defence department themselves.
- Clear responsibility split between civil and
defence space in Australia, whilst encouraging the broader community to link
together to support both sides
There are a couple of areas that are not in the policy that
could be improved over time:
- The lack of industry growth targets. Notably,
the UK space policy includes an export growth target of 10% of the global
market by 2030. Australia lacks any concrete targets to work towards, perhaps
not so focussed on the export side of things, but more related to growing the
industry in Australia as a whole. This is something that I would like to see in
future worked into our space policy.
- Australia has headed down the ‘cross-agency
coordination office’ path, which was very similar to what the UK did with its
space policy originally. More recently, the UK has moved to a dedicated Space
Agency model. In the short term, I believe that the ‘cross-agency coordination office’
path is also the best policy for
Australia to adopt, and it was prudent to take this approach at this time. It
will help bring together and coordinate the disparate functions of the
government. I do however believe that longer term a stand-alone agency
represents the best solution for Australia, to bring all of the space
capability within a single organisation inside government.
- My first impression was that the Space Policy
Unit (SPU) was no-longer going to exist, given the policy is now developed, and
there is no funding in the future estimates for the SPU. However the policy identifies
that the SPU within the Department of Industry, Innovation, Science, Research
and Tertiary Education ‘will be the chair and secretariat of the SCC’. I can
only presume that somehow a small level of funding will be included in the
upcoming budget for the SPU to continue in some form.
- In the media release surrounding the Policy
announcement today Senator Lundy announced “from 1 July 2013, a new Space Coordination Office in
the Department of Industry, Innovation, Climate Change, Science, Research and
Tertiary Education would be responsible for coordinating Australia’s domestic
civilian space activities and showcasing that excellence.” Which is unusual,
as the Policy document itself doesn’t specifically refer to the Space
Coordination Office, nor is it represented on the figure 1 diagram showing how
the various committees interrelate.
- The Policy announcement has not been in
conjunction with any new funding initiatives such as an extension of the highly
successful Australian Space Research Program, or even identification of funding
for the government departments that will be in charge of implementing the new
policy. My guess is we will have to wait and see what is in the upcoming budget
on May 14th 2013.
Finally, let me congratulate all of those involved in the
development of the policy. The smart and dedicated people at the Space Policy
Unit in Canberra have brought together a comprehensive Space policy document
since they were founded on the 1st of July 2009, which was built
essentially from a clean sheet of paper.
Make no mistake; the space policy is an enormous and
monumental step for the Australian Space Industry, and one that we have needed
for several decades.
It is however, just the beginning of Australia’s rising
space journey.
