The Morrison Government has snatched the McGowan Government’s proposal for a Mission Control facility and given it to South Australia, in the latest example of the Federal Liberals snubbing Western Australians.
The Federal Government today announced that South Australia would receive Western Australia’s Mission Control facility and comes after their announcement last year that South Australia would be the home of the Australian Space Agency.
In August 2018, the McGowan Government provided a competitive submission to the Federal Government, which was publicly released.
In the submission, the McGowan Government called on the Morrison Liberal Government to fund four projects in WA. This included a Federal investment of $2 million to support the establishment of a Mission Control facility.
Western Australia was the only State to publicly release its submission to the Federal Liberal Government for the Australian Space Agency.
As stated by Science Minister Dave Kelly:
“The Morrison Government has once again shown it does not care about WA, by taking our proposal for a Mission Control centre and giving it to SA.
“WA Liberals, like Linda Reynolds, and the Federal Government need to fess up. How could they let this happen?
“Christopher Pyne is out the door and yet he still has more pull than senior WA Liberals.
“Following this announcement I call on the Federal Liberal Government and South Australian Government to be transparent and publicly release SA’s bid.
“This announcement also shows us what happens when the State Opposition side with their counterparts in Canberra instead of the people they are elected to represent.
“Mike Nahan and the WA Liberals did not support WA when SA was granted the home of the Australian Space Agency, so what will they do this time?
“I call on all WA Liberals, both State and Federal, to join me in advocating for a better deal for WA.”
