ScoMo sells quest to send rockets into space from western Cape York

Cape York’s economy is primed to turn its thrusters on, emerging as a key player in the $640bn global space industry, former prime minister Scott Morrison says.

Former prime minister Scott Morrison and now chair of Space Centre Australia was a guest speaker at the Western Cape Symposium this week.

Cape York’s economy is primed to turn its thrusters on, emerging as a key player in the $640bn global space industry, according to former prime minister Scott Morrison.

But the troubled company backing the establishment of a spaceport in the region is still giant leaps away from launching rockets, with a facility not expected to be established until 2028 at the earliest.

Regional Development Australia Tropical North’s Brett Moller and Space Centre Australia's Scott Morrison at this week's Western Cape York Symposium. Picture: Supplied

The recently appointed Space Centre Australia (SCA) director outlined the company’s vision at the Western Cape York Symposium this week, speaking to about 250 community and business leaders.

“We are a multi-use space infrastructure company,” Mr Morrison said.

“We will never own, in this country, a rocket. We don’t make rockets. We won’t take Katy Perry to space, or anyone else for that matter.

“We are a spaceport, like an airport … that provides the base infrastructure and enables users of the launch space to put their rockets and satellites into space, whether it is NASA, private companies or for military uses.”

Space Centre Australia chair Scott Morrison and company chief executive and founder James Palmer at Wallops Range, Virginia, USA. Picture: Supplied

The space sector is expected to be worth $1.8 trillion by around 2035, with the industry growing at about nine per cent annually.

“That’s twice the rate of the global economy,” the former Tourism Australia boss said. “This thing is moving and it’s moving fast.”

A Cape Canaveral-style spaceport could be established near Weipa, with the mining town’s infrastructure and location a key advantage, Mr Morrison said.

“We’re the closest to the equator of any other spaceport,” he said.

“If Weipa wasn’t here, we couldn’t do it. If there wasn’t a port, we couldn’t do it. If there wasn’t an airport, we couldn’t do it.

“If there wasn’t the strategic presence of Scherger (RAAF base) and other ADF in this area, we couldn’t do it.”

Space Centre Australia chief executive James Palmer wants to launch medium-to-large sized rockets from near Weipa into outer space. Picture: Brendan Radke

Mr Morrison also expressed faith in Rio Tinto to remain the principal economic driver for the region for another half-a-century.

“Rio’s going to be here for a long time,” he said. “You wouldn’t be able to find an economic generator of that scale to underpin your regional economy as it has for the last 60 years and can for the next 50 years if you tried.

“It is a bedrock of this economy that gives you a platform upon which so much more can be built.”

SCA founder and chief executive James Palmer faced public scrutiny in 2023 after another one of his businesses, Palm Branch Group, was liquidated.

Originally published as ScoMo sells quest to send rockets into space from western Cape York