Premier Steven Marshall to meet National Space Agency head soon to discuss South Australia’s bid

ADELAIDE’S bid for the National Space Agency has begun in earnest with Premier Steven Marshall talking to the agency head and arranging a meeting within weeks.

• National Space Agency could have 20,000 jobs
• Astronaut Andy Thomas says SA is the best place for Space HQ

ADELAIDE’S bid for the National Space Agency has begun in earnest with Premier Steven Marshall talking to the agency head and arranging a meeting within weeks.

Mr Marshall told The Advertiser that nothing less than having the headquarters in SA would satisfy him.

He has recruited Adelaide astronaut Andy Thomas to the cause. Dr Thomas has already lobbied the Prime Minister directly and hopes to meet with agency boss Megan Clark.

Dr Clark is set to begin a tour of the states and territories, all of whom want as much as possible from the new agency. She will be in Adelaide in mid July.

Mr Marshall told her in their first conversation that he was “excited and nervous in equal measure”.

“I’m excited about the opportunity the space sector offers SA, but we’re obviously in a competitive bidding process and I want to put in the most compelling and competitive proposal to the Federal Government as possible,” he said.

Premier Steven Marshall with Adelaide astronaut Dr Andy Thomas. Picture: Simon Cross

The Federal Government dedicated $41 million in seed funding for the agency, which officially begins work on July 1.

“What Dr Clark is responsible for doing is working out what the arrangements are going to be and where the headquarters are going to be and we believe the headquarters needs to be where the industry node is and that has to be SA,” Mr Marshall said.

Dr Clark has described the location decision as “vital” and said that “all options are open”.

Opposition Leader Peter Malinauskas is on a unity ticket with Mr Marshall, while the Federal Opposition’s policy is to put the base in Canberra, with nodes in the other states and territories.

Federal Opposition industry spokesman Kim Carr told the Australian Strategic Policy Institute space conference last week that the space industry was a “genuinely nation-building enterprise” and that the “current bidding war” was counter-productive.

If a federal election was held this year and Labor won, he said, the centre would be in Canberra.

Mr Marshall said the state bipartisanship was a selling point for South Australia, because the state was committed to space even if the Liberals were to lose the next election.

He said that could be threatened, however, if Labor was to win at a Federal level.

The Advertise r contacted Labor for comment.