Tag Archive for: Northern Australia

Darwin Dialogue 2024: Triumph from teamwork

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In an increasingly fracturing international system, set to undergo only further strain in the near future, critical minerals are a point of significant international contention. Critical minerals underlie competition across critical civil and defence sectors and promise economic opportunity throughout their supply chain. They are vital to the clean-energy transition with minerals needed for electric vehicle batteries, solar panels, and even wind turbines. Resolving the significant vulnerabilities across critical mineral supply chains is a significant economic and national security challenge.

This report—based on an exclusive, invitation-only discussion at the Darwin Dialogue 2024, a 1.5 Track discussion between the Australian, United States, Japanese and Republic of Korean Governments-makes 11 recommendations for government and industry to develop both the domestic and international critical minerals sector.

This report also assesses the developments in Australia’s critical mineral policy since the inaugural Darwin Dialogue in April 2023, including the flagship Future Made in Australia policy; policy options to unlock new sources of domestic and international capital for the Australian critical minerals sector, and, how to better promote high ESG compliance in the international critical minerals market.

Australia’s natural endowments of critical minerals promise significant economic opportunity. But seizing this opportunity is dependent on teamwork. The Australian Government must work effectively with domestic state and territory governments, as well as close minilateral partners, to resolve the threats facing the critical minerals sector and develop secure and resilient supply chains for ourselves and the international community.

Building whole-of-nation statecraft: how Australia can better leverage subnational diplomacy in the US alliance

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Australia and the US are both federations of states in which power is shared constitutionally between the national and subnational levels of government. However, traditionally, one domain that hasn’t been considered a shared power, but rather the constitutionally enshrined responsibility of the national governments, has been international affairs (in the US Constitution through Article I, Section 10 and other clauses and in the Australian Constitution through section 51 (xxix), known as the external affairs power). For this reason, foreign-policy and national-security decision-makers in Washington DC and Canberra have rightly seen themselves as the prime actors in the policymaking that develops and strengthens the US–Australia alliance and all global relationships, with limited power held by subnational governments.

However, in our globalised and digital world, constitutional power no longer means that subnational governments have only narrow roles and influence on the international stage. While national governments will continue having primary responsibility for setting foreign policy, subnational governments have offices overseas, sign agreements with foreign governments, and regularly send diplomatic delegations abroad. Recent events, including the Covid-19 pandemic, have highlighted subnational governments’ decisive role in shaping, supporting, adapting to and implementing national and international policy. The pandemic, including post-pandemic trade promotion, demonstrated that the relationships between layers of governments in both federations are essential to national security, resilience, economic prosperity and social cohesion.

Subnational governments have vital roles to play in helping to maximise national capability, increase trust in democratic institutions, mitigate security threats and build broader and deeper relationships abroad. At the subnational level in Washington and Canberra, people-to-people, cultural and economic links create the deep connective tissue that maintains relationships, including those vital to the US-Australia alliance, no matter the politics of the day. But that subnational interaction must be consistent with national defence and foreign policy.

Australia’s federal system should help facilitate international engagement and incentivise positive engagement while ensuring that the necessary legislative and policy levers exist to require the subnational layer to conduct essential due diligence that prioritises the national interest. In this report, the authors make a series of policy recommendations that will support the development of such a framework.

Developing Australia’s critical minerals and rare earths: implementing the outcomes from the 2023 Darwin Dialogue

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Critical minerals and rare earths are the building blocks for emerging and future technologies, inseparable from the supply chains of manufacturing, clean energy production, medical technology, semiconductors, and the defence and aerospace industries. Despite their criticality, their supply chains are exposed to numerous vulnerabilities – threatening the production and development of vital technologies.

This report—based on closed-door, invitation-only discussions at ASPI’s new Darwin Dialogue, a track 1.5 meeting between Australia, Japan and the US—makes 24 recommendations for government and the private sector to support the development of viable, competitive alternative markets that offer products through supply chains secure from domestic policy disruptions and economic coercion.

These recommendations are derived from analysis of the challenges embedded in critical minerals supply chains, including the inability for global production to meet projected demand, and dependency upon China and politically unstable nations as at times near singular sources of production.

Australia’s natural endowments of critical minerals and rare earths provide a unique opportunity to achieve intersecting economic, environmental, and strategic objectives. But, as detailed in this report, effective coordination between Australia’s state, territory and federal governments, mining and industry, and international partners will be pivotal to developing this opportunity. Further still, achieving our critical minerals objectives will require a bold new policy approach from all stakeholders.

Australia’s north and space

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This report examines opportunities for the development of sovereign space capability in the Northern Territory, Queensland, and Western Australia. Given that those northern jurisdictions are closer to the equator, there’s a natural focus in the report on the potential opportunities offered by sovereign space launch, particularly in the Northern Territory and Queensland. However, I also consider the potential for other aspects of space besides launch, including space domain awareness, the establishment of satellite ground stations, and space industry. I explore the potential for the co-location of space industry—domestic and international—within or close to launch sites, which would result in the development of ‘space hubs’ in strategic locations in Australia.

Benefits are gained by situating space-launch sites as close to the equator as possible, and two sites—Nhulunbuy near Gove in the Northern Territory and Abbot Point near Bowen in Queensland—are now under development. The closer a launch site is to the equator, the greater the benefit in terms of reduced cost per kilogram of payload to orbit, due to velocity gained by a rocket from the Earth’s rotation.

The report then explores the transformation of Australia’s space sector that’s occurred within the past decade, from one solely dependent on foreign-provided satellite services and locally developed ground-segment capabilities, including for space domain awareness, to the growth of sovereign space industry and the establishment of the Australian Space Agency in 2018. I note that, since the establishment of the agency, Australia’s commercial space sector has expanded rapidly, but now faces headwinds, with the recent cancellation of the National Space Mission for Earth Observation being a serious blow to Australia’s space industry. The Australian space industry sector must now fight to sustain funding. In this report, I argue that the best way to achieve success is to emphasise sovereign launch as a focus for Australian space activities and to reinforce the potential opportunities offered by the north, including for defence and national-security requirements in space.

AUKUS and critical minerals: hedging Beijing’s pervasive, clever and coordinated statecraft

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AUKUS has a heavy focus on R&D of military capabilities. A number of departments, including defence, foreign affairs and prime ministerial equivalents are engaged. The science and technology to deliver those capabilities must resolve issues of insecure supply chains. Currently, supply chains for processed critical minerals and their resulting materials aren’t specifically included.

Yet all AUKUS capabilities, and the rules-based order that they uphold, depend heavily on critical minerals. China eclipses not only AUKUS for processing those minerals into usable forms, but the rest of the world combined. Without critical minerals, states are open to economic coercion in various technological industries, and defence manufacturing is particularly exposed to unnecessary supply-chain challenges.

This is where Australia comes in. Australia has the essential minerals, which are more readily exploitable because they’re located in less densely populated or ecologically sensitive areas. Australia also has the right expertise, including universities offering the appropriate advanced geoscience degrees, as well as advanced infrastructure, world-class resources technology and deep industry connections with Asia and Africa, which are also vital global sources of critical minerals.

This paper outlines why Australia offers an unrivalled rallying point to drive secure critical-mineral supply among a wide field of vested nations, using AUKUS but not limited to AUKUS partners, how WA has globally superior reserves and substantial expertise, and why northern Australia more generally has a key role to play. The paper also explains why policy action here must be prioritised by the Australian Government.

North of 26 degrees south and the security of Australia: views from The Strategist, Volume 6

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The Northern Australia Strategic Policy Centre’s latest report, North of 26 degrees south and the security of Australia: views from The Strategist, Volume 6, is a series of articles published in The Strategist over the last six months, building on previous volumes by identifying critical intersections of national security, nation-building and Australia’s north.

This issue, like previous volumes, includes a wide range of articles sourced from a diverse pool of expert contributors writing on topics as varied as maritime law enforcement, equatorial space launch, renewable energy infrastructure, rare earths and critical minerals, agriculture, Industry 4.0, advanced manufacturing, fuel and water security, and defence force posturing. It also features a foreword by the Honourable Madeleine King MP, Minister for Northern Australia.

Minister King writes, “Northern Australia promises boundless opportunity and potential. It is the doorway to our region and key to our future prosperity.”

The 24 articles propose concrete, real-world actions for policy-makers to facilitate the development, prosperity and security of Australia’s north. The authors share a sense that those things that make the north unique – its vast space, low population density, specific geography, and harsh investment environment – are characteristics that can be leveraged, not disadvantages.

This is a link to the previous volume 5.

‘Deep roots’: agriculture, national security and nation-building in northern Australia

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This report offers a multidisciplinary analysis of the various components that make up and influence the vast and complex agriculture industry network in northern Australia. It examines the economic and historical underpinnings of the agriculture industry we know today; the administration, direction and implementation of agricultural policy and funding across levels of government; the many and varied demographic and cultural characteristics of the northern Australian population; and the evolution of place-based physical and digital infrastructure.

The role of infrastructure and infrastructure funding in northern Australia plays a key role in the report’s narrative, which outlines the implications for national security, economic prosperity, service delivery, social cohesion and policy implementation if prevailing arrangements aren’t reformed to a sufficient standard that addresses contemporary challenges.

The report also examines biosecurity vulnerabilities, mitigation strategies for those vulnerabilities and their strategic and national security implications, and the long-term positioning of the north of Australia as critical for future growth, prosperity and security. The focus on opportunities presented by the north’s unique nature throughout the report culminates in a set of recommendations for policymakers to take a unified and big-picture approach across a daunting array of issues and disciplines.

This report suggests:

  1. a unified message among all relevant stakeholder groups with awareness of the strategic role of the northern agriculture sector
  2. greater investment in agricultural research to grow and protect agricultural industries (prosperity is key to security)
  3. greater engagement of Indigenous populations, with genuine appreciation for the role of Indigenous people and their connection and knowledge of land and  water as the key to unlocking potential.
  4. a cohesive nation-building plan.

Breaking down the barriers to Industry 4.0 in the north

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Innovation in northern Australia is thriving. It’s not clear why there’s a culture of innovation in the north, and perhaps that represents a focus for social research. However, there’s no doubt that innovators in northern Australia are seizing the opportunity to pursue solutions that generate economic benefits, contribute to national resilience, and respond to defence needs.

This special report highlights how innovators in the north are at the leading edge of the fourth industrial revolution and draws attention to the challenges they face.

Industry 4.0 represents opportunities to transform, but it’s not just about developing and adopting smart technology. And it’s not about evolutionary or transformative change; it’s a different way of thinking that will allow us to leap into a different future. To reap the transformative benefits from Industry 4.0 we need to adopt leading-edge technology in the best way to deliver better outcomes from the perspective of a wider range of interests.

But there are barriers. Australia has regulatory and standards frameworks and mechanisms that have evolved from traditional Industry 2.0 process thinking and Industry 3.0 manufacturing. There are inherent conflicts within and between sectors that safeguard the status quo of outdated and broken supply chains and wasteful manufacturing paradigms.

Through the lens of real experiences and success stories, this special report shines a light on the opportunities and challenges, and highlights what’s needed to better harness those opportunities. In particular, we need to:
•    Drive national capability through a philosophical positioning that’s supported by practical examples of innovation.
•    Acknowledge that economic theory underpinned by a need to have large-scale manufacturing and production lines for viability is thinking not aligned with the opportunity that Industry 4.0 presents.
•    Align government thinking and practice with the growing environmental, social and governance mindset of business and the growing expectations of investors, consumers and the community.
Northern innovators have a commitment to Australia, its future and the kind of world that they want to create for future generations. Thus, they conceptualise, create and deliver by leveraging Industry 4.0 thinking and technology.

Technology doesn’t drive change, but how they use it does. This is sovereign capability in action.

North of 26 degrees south and the security of Australia: views from The Strategist, Volume 5

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The Northern Australia Strategic Policy Centre’s latest report is a series of articles published in The Strategist over the last six months, building on previous volumes by identifying critical intersections of national security, nation-building and Australia’s north.

This issue, like previous volumes, includes a wide range of articles sourced from a diverse pool of expert contributors writing on topics as varied as biosecurity, infrastructure, critical communications, cyber-resilience, maritime infrastructure, foreign investment, space, and Indigenous knowledge-sharing. It also features a foreword by ASPI’s new Executive Director, Justin Bassi.

The 19 articles propose concrete, real-world actions for policy-makers to facilitate the development, prosperity and security of Australia’s north. The authors share a sense that those things that make the north unique – its vast space, low population density, specific geography, and harsh investment environment – are characteristics that can be leveraged, not disadvantages.

Agenda for change 2022: Shaping a different future for our nation

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In line with previous Agenda for Change publications from 2016 and 2019, this piece is being released in anticipation of a federal election as a guide for the next government within its first months and over the full term. Our 2022 agenda acknowledges that an economically prosperous and socially cohesive Australia is a secure and resilient Australia.

ASPI’s Agenda for change 2019: strategic choices for the next government did, to a great extent, imagine a number of those challenges, including in Peter Jennings’ chapter on ‘The big strategic issues’. But a lot has changed since 2019. It was hard to imagine the dislocating impacts of the Black Summer fires, Covid-19 in 2020 and then the Delta and Omicron strains in 2021, trade coercion from an increasingly hostile China, or the increasingly uncertain security environment.

Fast forward to today and that also applies to the policies and programs we need to position us in a more uncertain and increasingly dangerous world.

Our Agenda for change 2022 acknowledges that what might have served us well in the past won’t serve us well in this world of disruption. In response, our authors propose a smaller number of big ideas to address the big challenges of today and the future. Under the themes of getting our house in order and Australia looking outward, Agenda for change 2022 focuses on addressing the strategic issues from 2021 and beyond.

Tag Archive for: Northern Australia

Northern Australia doesn’t get enough political attention. We can fix that

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Northern Australia comprises half of the nation’s landmass, is rich in natural resources and offers a gateway to the Indo-Pacific—yet it is grossly underappreciated in federal decision-making, with the result that its potential is largely untapped.

To help correct this, northern Australia’s federal politicians should establish a cross-parliamentary group committed to finding a bipartisan approach that prioritises the region’s interests.

Northern Australia is an asset for defence, trade and energy security. Its proximity to Asia and the Pacific makes it a key link in Australia’s relationship with its neighbours. If Australia is serious about strengthening its role in the Indo-Pacific, it must invest more heavily in the infrastructure, services and political representation of its northern regions.

Only 1.35 million people, 5.2 percent of Australia’s population, live in northern Australia, so it is represented by just 12 members of the House of Representatives and 26 senators. The southern states, with concentrated populations and urban centres, dominate federal politics. While some northern Australian politicians hold important committee positions, such as those on the Joint Select Committee on Northern Australia or the Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility, the concerns of other, far more numerous members of parliament (MPs) limit their influence.

Northern Australia’s geographic and economic significance remains a peripheral concern for too many southern-focused policymakers. But it deserves far more attention in Canberra’s corridors of power. This imbalance in political attention is a critical issue. It’s a matter of national strategy.

Northern Australia needs its political voice heard loudly and clearly in parliament.

An answer would be to establish a Parliamentary Friends of Northern Australia group. Such a cross-party parliamentary group should be dedicated to advancing the interests of northern Australia across all sectors, including infrastructure, regional development, indigenous affairs, agriculture, resources and national security. It could provide a platform for MPs and senators, regardless of party affiliation, to collaborate on policy initiatives that directly benefit northern Australia, raise the profile of its challenges and push for greater regional investment. Importantly, it would offer a dedicated space for northern Australian representatives to amplify the specific needs of their electorates and push for more significant funding and legislative action.

The absence of such a parliamentary group, has contributed to northern Australia often being treated as an afterthought in the national political debate. Too often, policies developed in Canberra overlook the unique challenges northern communities face: lack of essential infrastructure, a need for more sustainable economic development or underinvestment in services and education. A parliamentary friends group would enable northern Australia’s politicians to push for urgent reforms. This would include securing more funding for essential infrastructure projects, such as transport corridors, renewable energy initiatives and regional healthcare services, which are all key to the region’s growth and prosperity.

Beyond this, the federal government must take action to realise northern Australia’s economic potential. The region is a powerhouse of natural resources—minerals, energy and agriculture—contributing significantly to Australia’s GDP. However, its infrastructure is underdeveloped and the lack of connectivity across the vast region hampers its economic output.

Investment in critical infrastructure is essential, particularly in remote areas where the need for improved roads, ports and communications infrastructure is urgent. Fostering a more diversified economy in northern Australia—one less reliant on mining and more focused on renewable energy, technology and tourism—would help the region become more resilient to global economic shifts.

These measures would also enhance national security and provide economic opportunities for the region, particularly in terms of jobs and business development.

Creating a Parliamentary Friends of Northern Australia group would enable MPs and senators from the region to advocate for its needs, ensuring that it was no longer sidelined in the national political discourse. The federal government must correct the imbalance between northern Australia’s importance and the political attention it receives. It must invest in essential infrastructure and work with local communities to unlock northern Australia’s full economic, social and strategic potential.

Australia’s space future in the north

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Australia is a lucky country when it comes to the potential opportunities for space launch. Its geography means that sites close to the equator, which are sparsely populated and enjoy stable weather patterns, are ideal for establishing a sovereign launch capability. Launching close to the equator enables a rocket to gain velocity from the earth’s rotation, making it less expensive to get a payload into equatorial orbit. Australia should not waste this competitive advantage.

In my new ASPI report, Australia’s north and space, released today, I discuss the importance of northern Australia to our space future. Both the Northern Territory and Queensland are well placed for launches, with two major sites. The Arnhem Space Centre at Nhulunbuy, near Gove in the NT, and Abbot Point at Bowen in Queensland are being established to derive maximum benefit from Australia’s geography. Others have been suggested, including a proposed launch site near Weipa in northern Queensland known as Space Centre Australia.

The report also examines Western Australia’s role in space. The state’s south coast favours launch into polar and sun-synchronous orbit, and a proposed privately owned launch site at Albany is being promoted as a future option by WA Spaceport.

The report notes that South Australia is well placed for launch into polar and sun-synchronous orbit, and Southern Launch is finalising its site at Whalers Way to support orbital launches.

All three northern states are also well placed to support space activities besides launches, including ground facilities such as spacecraft telemetry, tracking and control, space domain awareness, and payload development and integration. Co-location of ground elements close to launch sites in space hubs makes great sense. The development of such hubs will help the commercial space industry to expand and reduce the length of supply chains.

What could emerge is a complete space ecosystem spanning from design and fabrication of launch vehicles and satellites, through to payload integration, launch and post-launch support of space activities. That brings the potential of ‘space coasts’—where commercial space activity is concentrated and enjoys rapid growth—as the launch market expands to service megaconstellations of satellites in earth orbit, as well as lunar logistics.

The report begins by looking forward 20 years, suggesting a future scenario where Australia’s space sector is contributing to establishing a permanent human presence on the moon, with Australian astronauts on the lunar surface. In this scenario, launch sites across the country could support humanity’s future in space with regular launches and a flourishing space industry near them. It’s a future that goes beyond the dreams of the early leaders of the Australian space industry—and the plans of the Australian Space Agency—but it’s within our grasp.

That positive look forward presents a starting vision of where Australia as a nation should aim to be in space. However, there are challenges ahead if we are to achieve that vision. Without a national space policy, negative competition could develop between states rather than national coordination. The absence of a national space strategy must be addressed. The report lays the foundations for two follow-on papers—one on a national space strategy and the other making the case for space—to be released by the end of 2023.

The report also notes worrying cuts in government funding for space, most notably the cancellation of the national space mission for earth observation. That, combined with cutbacks in funding for space projects in the 2023–24 budget, and the lack of progress on a national space policy, is causing concern within the space sector about the risk of momentum being lost. It’s vital that Australia’s space community work together to avoid that outcome. Failure to do so will see us slip back into dependency as that positive future fades away.

The report notes the importance of Defence’s focus on space as an operational domain and argues that a sovereign launch capability is necessary to allow Australia to share more of the burden in orbit and strengthen space deterrence through increased resilience and assured access. Australia must do more than simply provide ground-based support of allied space capabilities. It must directly increase its own role in space by expanding space domain awareness and, most importantly, establishing a sovereign launch capability.

A sovereign launch capability will avoid the risks of overdependency on foreign capabilities and ensure responsive space access for both Australia and its allies. It will also allow for quick augmentation, and if necessary, reconstitution, of space capability in a conflict.

The commercial space sector, the Australian Space Agency, Defence and the scientific community must together present a coherent and comprehensive case for space to government. This will require the resumption of work towards a national space policy, to be completed within the current term of government. The goal should be one coherent strategy that brings together commercial, civil and defence aspects of Australian space to leverage the country’s natural advantages and that places launch at the centre of national space activities.

A positive space future is out there for us, but it will take all stakeholders to make it happen. Australia can continue to be a rising and important space power, and the momentum gained in recent years need not be lost. The place to start is in the north, and this country must move forward to launch into that future.

Northern launch site could transform Australia’s role in space

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The Australian continent is in an excellent position when it comes to launching payloads into space, because its north is so close to the equator. Only Kourou in French Guiana—the European Space Agency’s main launch site—at 5 degrees north latitude and the Alcantara launch centre in Brazil at 2° south latitude (inoperative after a devastating accident in 2003) are closer to the equatorial sweet spot.

It’s Rocket Science 101 that launching close to the equator on an eastern trajectory provides a ‘ΔV’ (‘delta-V’) advantage that gives a rocket a boost in energy from the earth’s rotation from west to east. That translates into either fewer dollars per kilogram or more kilograms per dollar to launch a payload into low-earth orbit (LEO) compared with launch sites at a higher latitude, such as Cape Kennedy in Florida.

The Arnhem Space Centre near Nhulunbuy in the Northern Territory that’s being established by Australian company Equatorial Launch Australia (ELA) is designed to exploit this natural advantage. The site is at latitude 12° south of the equator, and is one of two launch sites to be developed in Australia (the other is operated by Southern Launch at Whalers Way in South Australia, which will be ideal for launching satellites into sun-synchronous orbit).

Nhulunbuy is perfectly placed to deploy small satellites into equatorial LEO at latitudes between 15° south and north of the equator, as well as into all other orbits. The equatorial LEO orbital region will be crucial for supporting the needs of Southeast Asian and Pacific nations and the rapidly developing economies in Africa and South America. Altogether, that’s a market of around 3 billion people, all of whom will need access to satellite capabilities.

For Australia, equatorial LEO is one of the best locations in space for observing our maritime and air approaches and monitoring sea lanes of communication. The requirement for high revisit rates in those missions implies the use of many satellites for tasks such as maritime surveillance. The Nhulunbuy site would need to be available for nearly constant use to launch satellites, update deployed constellations of satellites and expand surveillance capability.

That’s also good news for Australian providers of launch vehicle such as Gilmour Space and Black Sky Aerospace, as well as companies like Hypersonix that are working on sovereign launch capabilities.

The establishment of space launch sites in Australia, and the growth of launch vehicle providers, will mean the end of our dependency on foreign launch providers. Australia will become self-sufficient in assuring space capability for both civil and military requirements. We’ll no longer be at the mercy of long launch schedules with foreign space launch companies. Instead, Australia will be able to enter a potentially lucrative global launch market driven by the rapid growth of satellite megaconstellations in the 2020s. For defence purposes, it means we’ll be able to provide assured space support for the Australian Defence Force and to burden-share with key allies.

A sovereign launch capability will enable Australia to exploit the advantage of the falling cost of space launch, particularly as more commercial launch providers develop reusable rocket systems. Australia is well placed to build its own small satellites and cubesats, and exploit ‘fourth industrial revolution’ manufacturing technologies to constantly update its space capabilities through spiral development. We’ll also be able to build satellites to order for foreign customers, and thus develop a space export industry alongside a domestic one.

The Northern Territory is set to play a crucial role in this future. Although the Australian Space Agency will be headquartered in Adelaide, and a concentration of space industry players will emerge in South Australia, key elements of that industry should also emerge in the NT, and be located close to the Nhulunbuy launch site. In particular, launch vehicle integration and test facilities need to be established close to the launch site. It’s not too far a stretch to envisage a satellite manufacturing industry emerging in Darwin that exploits robotic production lines and 3D printing as well as synthetic design techniques to rapidly design, test and produce small satellite and cubesat constellations. Co-locating space industry with space launch sites would stimulate the NT’s high-tech sector.

The ELA launch site at Nhulunbuy could also offer launch services to overseas partners. Key defence partners such as the US, Japan and Southeast Asian states could conceivably launch payloads from Nhulunbuy on their own launch vehicles, and ELA recently signed an agreement with NASA to launch sounding rockets from the launch site in 2020. Looking ahead, it’s quite possible that reusable vehicles launched from elsewhere on the planet could be recovered and then prepared for a new mission launched from Nhulunbuy. With SpaceX now regularly recovering the first stages of its Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy boosters, and with plans to fully reuse the ‘Starship Super Heavy’ launch vehicle, Nhulunbuy doesn’t need to be limited to small launch vehicles either.

The opportunities for growth are clear, especially if the NT can promote the launch site as a beginning of a new ‘space coast’ that international partners can support. That would also further stimulate the growth of the Territory’s economy beyond the space sector. The emergence of space launch from the NT will create jobs for the local population and, crucially, open up employment opportunities for Indigenous Australians in a vital new high-tech sector of the Australian economy. There’s also considerable potential to grow science, technology, engineering and maths, or STEM, programs in secondary and tertiary education.

The Australian Space Agency recently updated regulatory structures for space launches to make it easier and more cost-effective to send payloads into space from Australian sites. Both the Nhulunbuy and Whaler’s Way sites are well placed to take advantage of this change to become key centres of space activity in the next decade in a way that utterly transforms Australia’s role in space at a global level.