Space hub cuts ‘a threat to security’, says Simon Birmingham

Simon Birmingham has warned deep Labor cuts to the space program are putting industry, security and diplomacy at ‘huge’ risk.

Industry Minister Ed Husic, right, with Canberra Labor MP David Smith at NASA’s Canberra Deep Space Communications Complex, has defended Labor’s investment in Australia’s space program. Picture: Martin Ollman / NCA NewsWire

Opposition foreign affairs spokesman Simon Birmingham, who led the charge for South Australia to become the nation’s space hub, has warned that Labor’s deep cuts to the program are putting industry, security and diplomacy at “huge” risk.

After grilling Foreign Affairs Minister Penny Wong in the ­Senate over the secret budget axing of a key $1.2bn NASA-backed sovereign satellite program, Senator Birmingham told The Australian that “massive cuts” had effectively grounded the nation’s space program.

The Australian understands that NASA and US officials have in recent months expressed private concerns about the Albanese government’s commitments on space, a key priority area under the AUKUS and Quad partnerships.

“It’s impossible in 2023 to develop advanced manufacturing or next-generation defence capabilities without serious investment in space,” Senator Birmingham said.

“To not tell the US and keep our closest ally in the dark while dramatically cutting investment in Australia’s space industry means these decisions were taken without full awareness of the consequences and lost opportunities.”

Senator Wong said the axing of the National Space Mission for Earth Observation satellite program was a “budget decision” and she deflected criticism about US officials finding out about the project’s scrapping only hours before it was publicly announced.

Despite Defence, CSIRO, the Bureau of Meteorology and Geoscience Australia all backing the program, which would have delivered four locally designed and built satellites between 2028 and 2033, Senator Wong said: “We’ve started the hard work to rebuild fiscal buffers.

“Our relationship with the United States is deep and enduring. We have significant co-operation on space. In relation to this particular budget decision, the United States was advised ahead of time as was appropriate.”

The Weekend Australian revealed the program was secretly terminated ahead of the May 9 budget but wasn’t announced until June 29. In March, NASA ­administrators Bill Nelson and Pam Melroy travelled to Adelaide and Canberra to meet Industry Minister Ed Husic, Defence Minister Richard Marles and space agency chiefs.

E-mails obtained under Freedom of Information revealed that Mr Husic and the Prime Minister’s Office instructed Australian embassy officials in Washington to keep the White House National Space Council, US Geological Survey and NASA in the dark until hours before the funding cut was publicly revealed.

A spokesman for Mr Husic ­rejected space industry claims, based on the budget papers, that the Questacon kids’ science centre in Canberra was allocated $59.7m over four years compared with $34.2m over three years for the Australian Space Agency.

The spokesman said $108.6m over four years had been allocated for agency operations, regulatory functions, the Australian Space Discovery Centre, National Student Space Challenge, Moon to Mars program, space diplomacy and a framework for managing human spaceflight.

Responding to criticism from Space Industry Association of Australia chief executive James Brown that Labor’s funding commitments show space “is not a priority”, Mr Husic’s spokesman said attacking “Questacon is both misguided and factually wrong”.

“Questacon is the linchpin in our national effort to inspire young Australians to take up a ­career in science, including space sciences – that’s why we boosted Questacon’s funding,” he said.

Strategic Analysis Australia ­director Michael Shoebridge warned that the space program cuts could affect the relationship with the US. He added it was “odd to break a commitment worth $1.2bn when we are entering a decades long partnership worth over $368bn”.

“One of the things about the Australia-US relationship is the honesty that has been built over time. Now a close partnership, like in any relationship, is damaged if there is dishonesty,” Mr Shoebridge said.