I look forward to seeing substantive proposals from the government as to how this industry policy can be developed in the future, to ensure that local industry does participate and profit and that there is real technology transfer to Australia in the future so that we not only benefit from the scientific and industrial and commercial applications of space technology but also profit from the activity itself. Also, Australians will then be able to showcase to the world their very real expertise in these areas and we will get the spin-off benefits in many of the other subsidiary industries. It is not simply the direct benefits which are important but also the spin-off technologies in robotics, in control systems, in the biological sciences. A whole range of those activities is possible, based on the outcome of space technology. While people often do not understand the spin-off benefits, those benefits can be far more substantial than the direct benefits of space technologies themselves.
Industry policy is particularly vital in that regard.
Yesterday we saw the introduction of a wide range of new taxation legislation. That is not particularly the topic today. However, it is worthy of note that the government did grant a wholesale sales tax exemption for imported launch material for Kistler in their Woomera venture. I have not had a chance to peruse the full detail of the bills introduced yesterday, but they do not, so far as I am aware, contain an exemption for Kistler or any related activity. It could be said that space launches are the ultimate export industry.