In the deluge of leaks leading to Tuesday’s budget was a surprise $50 million initiative for which Canberra might just have the strongest claim in the country.
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Up for grabs is a brand spanking new National Space Agency, with no decision on a location as of yet and an open slate as far as the rest of the major details go.
We might have little say over how the rest of the Commonwealth coffers are spent, but here is the perfect opportunity for the territory to makes its case as Australia’s capital for science and technology.
Putting Canberra forward flies in the face of the country's appetite for bashing the capital, as well as the recent predilection towards ripping jobs out of town through decentralisation.
The first consideration bolstering Canberra’s claim to host the agency is our wealth of clever scientists.
The ACT is home to the Australian National University as well as a large contingent from the University of New South Wales.
Between them, these two universities are perhaps the most prolific in all of Australia when it comes to space-related research and development.
ANU has a range of sophisticated facilities for the testing and development of space technologies, while UNSW offers capabilities in areas such as satellite operation and observation.
The second factor in Canberra’s favour is the presence of large pieces of infrastructure and other key research institutions.
For example, the ACT hosts NASA’s Deep Space Communication Complex and the Mount Stromlo Observatory, and is also home to CSIRO, Australia’s national science body.
Thirdly, there is a thriving network of technology companies in the territory, as well as the established presence of defence industry researchers.
And lastly, Canberra has a growing contingent of residents quite enamoured with the idea of moving away from our public service stereotype.
Given all this in its favour, it is surprising the ACT has barely left the starting blocks in the race to host Australia’s national space agency.
Sure, the ACT government has provided a comprehensive and detailed summary of our capabilities to a national review on the topic, and a number of researchers have been making all the right noises.
Meanwhile South Australia, one of our main competitors for hosting rights, has banded together in an impressive bipartisan bid involving the government and opposition.
To trump this the ACT needs to present a better vision, where researchers, businesses , public servants and local politicians all pull in the same direction to make the territory’s case.
With a little planning and foresight we could provide the federal government, and the rest of Australia, with a truly impressive roadmap for our burgeoning space industry, based in Canberra.
Of course, the rest of the country might scoff at Canberra’s ploy to host yet another federal government agency.
But what is the worst that might happen by throwing our hat into the ring?
At least in doing so the territory gets to show the rest of Australia that we are as forward-thinking and on the ball as we believe ourselves to be.
