Well, thank you very, very much Meghan and Aunty Serena, I really valued and enjoyed that Welcome to Country. If I can make a slightly partisan intervention at the beginning, there was a moment there during our election where people tried to make a little bit of mischief around this question of Welcome to Countries and I think the country said, “yeah, nah, we're not going down that path.” It's one of the things that I'm proud of, the way that Australians responded to all of that. We have 65,000 years of custodianship but also the world's longest and richest history of science and technology and agriculture and many other things, and it's something that enriches us. I know that, in my work as the Assistant Minister for Trade, working with Don Farrell, one of the Australian advantages that really matters in tangible ways, whether we're in the Pacific or right around the world, is that history, which is something that no other country on Earth has. I'm really proud of it. I know everybody else here is really proud of it too.
I have prepared a 45-minute address that I propose to read out to you. Look, what I wanted to do today, really, was say to you that I really value your work. I wanted one of the first things that I did as the incoming Minister to be on day two, day one, to come down and talk with you briefly, but, more importantly, to listen to what you have to say, to make it clear that, from the government's perspective, the Australian Public Service and this department are really central to the way that we see the government achieving its objectives, and that the work that you do is really valuable. That's the first thing. It should go without saying, but I think it's important that it's said.
The second thing is just to say again, something that should be, I suppose, obvious. You might end this and say, “geez, he just came in and said a whole lot of obvious things.” The Department of Industry, when we think about the kind of economy and society and industrial capability that Australia is going to need for our future, whether it's in terms of our security, in terms of our economic prosperity – another one of those desiccated economist terms, but actually a more equal, strong society – and if we have the industrial capability to solve our national problems, you are at the centre of us achieving those objectives. It cannot be done without an effective, agile, mobilised, purposeful Department of Industry and Science and Resources, without a CSIRO, without all of the other parts of what sits within the orbit of this agency. You are absolutely central to the country achieving the objectives that it needs to achieve for future generations, and you are central to the way that the government sees, and the way the Prime Minister sees, us achieving our objectives. It's a central economic agency for us getting the country to where it needs to get to to get through the coming years and decades.
So, this is my excited face. I am so honoured and so excited to be here in this role, and I'm so delighted to be working with this department and these agencies. All of those reasons are why I wanted to pull you all together, but it's also just to get me out of the briefing for a minute. It’s really good to spend the day with Meghan and the team, really hitting at a high level some of the issues that you have been engaged in in your work, and I'm very keen to work with you on some of these issues and some of these problems over the coming period. So, it's a real pleasure to be working with Megan Quinn and her team. Andrew Charlton, one of my favourite Members of Parliament. I can tell you – my team will have to nod and say this is true, but it actually is true – I was really hoping that what I would hear was that Andrew was going to be appointed as an Assistant Minister in this area, and I'm absolutely delighted that he's going to be able to bring his capability and experience and expertise and intellectual energy to the task that we've got in front of us, and I'm absolutely delighted to have him here riding shotgun with me through this process. I know that the department has a whole lot of parts to it that play all sorts of interesting functions. I had Richard Marles, the Defence Minister and Deputy Prime Minister, literally, just a few days ago, spend almost 20 minutes talking to me about the National Measurement Institute. He is utterly passionate about the work of the National Measurement Institute, and I can't wait to engage with you in your work. I'm told that the 20th of May is the National Day of the Metre, or something – you know, the 150th anniversary of a world standard around the metre. That's pretty cool. There will be, no doubt, a media release, but I'm looking for more fun stuff to do around that. People today could not conceive that we didn't have a universal measurement of the metre and how important that is. If we didn’t, all the things that we do could not be done. It reminds me of the terrible show that was on about the Olympics in Australia, and the 99-metre pool that they established, or whatever it was, and the difficulties that might have created. The Anti-Dumping Commissioner, Questacon, the Business Grants Hub, all of these parts of the organisation that play such a critical role for the country. The Australian Space Agency.
I got off the phone this morning from the boss of Gilmour Space who are about to launch, in just a few days, a rocket in what will be a really important milestone for Australia. I don't know whether that rocket will launch, how long it will launch for, whether it will achieve its orbital objective – that's not the point. If it doesn't, they will learn. That's part of the process for them. I don't want there to be a bar set that this rocket has to achieve orbit on the first go. That is an extraordinary achievement, and I passed on to him the government's congratulations for all of that work, and really the best of luck to them. That is important and so is the work of the Australian Space Agency in building that sector.
Some of my favourites are in the Office of National Rail Industry Coordination. I'm sure some of them are here or online somewhere. I remember as a young trade union official fighting for the rail industry in New South Wales and for the thousands and thousands of workers in that sector. We can achieve good outcomes for Australia, and we can build good industrial capability there in regions that really need it, and I've watched, obviously I had a bit of a role early in the formation of that part of the organisation, but I've watched it growth and its emerging capability with a lot of interest, and I'm really looking forward to building on that. And, of course, the Chief Scientist.
Now, it's a bit like one of those wedding speeches where you know that that even if you've been given a list, there is a risk that the list isn't quite exhaustive, or that you've stumbled over something and missed somebody. If you've missed out, feel free to castigate the Assistant Minister in the session that has been set up. I guess, really, what is this all about? This really is about me conveying to you that I'm going to demand a lot from the leadership and the staff of the department. The government is going to demand a lot from you. But we come at this with a sense of national purpose, with ambition for our future, with deep respect for the work that you undertake and for the capacity that you all bring, individually and collectively, to that task, and as I may have mentioned earlier on, I couldn't be more excited about the task ahead, and can't wait to get on with it.
Thank you.
