Ex-Coalition minister Karen Andrews says space sector wants her to launch a rescue mission

Former Coalition industry minister Karen Andrews has been urged by members of the space sector to convene a roundtable to address the industry’s future.

Prepared to listen: Karen Andrews. Picture: Getty Images

Former Coalition industry minister Karen Andrews has been urged by members of the space sector to convene a roundtable to address the industry’s future, following the axing of a $1.2bn satellite program and revelations that the government instructed Australian embassy officials to not inform the US about the decision.

The outgoing Queensland MP – who made the fledgling space sector one of her top priorities while she held the portfolio between 2018 and 2021 – said the cut had been a “king hit” to members of the space industry, many of whom had approached her in recent weeks asking for advice.

“They’re looking for someone who’s prepared to listen to them,” she said.

“It doesn’t seem to indicate to me that they have an open relationship with the current minister.

“I think the sector is going to have to look to how it's going to support itself … and if you have a government … that doesn’t support that, it’s hard to see how the sector can reach its potential.”

Ms Andrews would not divulge the names of companies that had requested a roundtable.

The Australian revealed earlier this month that embassy officials were told not to alert US counterparts to the government’s decision to axe the $1.2bn national space mission for earth observation, which would have delivered four locally designed and built satellites between 2028 and 2033.

Ms Andrews said she was concerned about ramifications of the decision and its effect on the relationship with the US and NASA.

Industry Minister Ed Husic on Monday said all Labor ministers had been asked to find savings ahead of the May budget because of the “mess” left by the former ­Coalition government.

“This is a difficult decision and I accept that … there are some ­people (who) are disappointed by that decision but this is what happens when you're left with the fiscal and budgetary mess that we inherited, a trillion dollars in debt, huge budget deficits that triggered inflation and interest rate increases,” he told Sky News.

“Given no contracts or tenders were issued for this program, I had to make the tough call of returning that money to the budget as part of that overall contribution towards budget repair.”

He said the $1.2bn had been announced after the Coalition had been in power for nine years and just “weeks out” from the federal election.

“The space sector is very important. That’s why we’ve opened up the National Reconstruction Fund to be able to be used as an investment vehicle … we’ve got an industry growth program we announced in the last budget of $400m that we opened up and also made sure the Australian Space Agency was on sustainable footing,” he said.

South Australian Deputy Premier Susan Close last week criticised the­ space industry cuts as “disappointing” but said the state government would make the sector a “priority future industry”.

Deputy Liberal leader Sussan Ley said the space sector was “sending a clear message” to the government that “we have a problem”, while opposition science spokesman Paul Fletcher said Labor had undone the work of the former Coalition government and turned its back on the sector.