A series of NASA rockets will be launched into space from the Northern Territory later this month, with the Australian Government signing-off on a history-making moment for the local space sector.
Three scientific suborbital sounding rockets will be launched between 26 June and 12 July 2022 from the Arnhem Space Centre, which is owned and run by Equatorial Launch Australia.
LEON BYNER: And let's welcome now, he's been on the show before, but now he's the Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese. Prime Minister, thank you for coming on today and welcome.
ANTHONY ALBANESE, PRIME MINISTER: Thank you very much, Leon. It's always good to be on the program, and greetings from Darwin.
LEON BYNER: Yes. Now tell us about the fact that you've got a space industry announcement for SA. First of all, why are you in Darwin?
ANTHONY ALBANESE, PRIME MINISTER: Well, it's fantastic to be here today and I begin by acknowledging the Traditional owners of the land on which we meet. I respect their elders past, present and emerging and recommit, on behalf of my Government, to the implementation of the Uluru Statement from the Heart. I'm joined today by the Chief Minister. We're both pretty new at our respective jobs, but we've both been around for a while and are good friends and I look forward to working with Tash, including at the first meeting of the National Cabinet that we will hold in Canberra.
PATRICK GORMAN, MEMBER FOR PERTH: I'm Patrick Gorman, the Member for Perth. And I'm not just welcoming the Prime Minister to Perth, we've got the entire Labor team here to welcome Anthony Albanese, Prime Minister of Australia, here to Perth. Anthony has been here many, many times. But this is his first visit as Prime Minister of Australia. And it's so good to be joined, I'm not going to name them, and it's really special that Anthony is here on Western Australia Day long weekend.
ANTHONY ALBANESE, PRIME MINISTER: Well it's wonderful to be here in Jakarta for my first visit here as Prime Minister, but my sixth official visit to Indonesia. Australia and Indonesia are great friends, and I look forward to meeting with President Jokowi tomorrow. And to ensure that this friendship is strengthened, we have an important economic relationship. President Widodo has been a great friend of Australia. We welcomed him to our Parliament just a short period of time ago.
I want thank President Joko Widodo and his ministerial team for their very warm welcome, and for hosting a most productive Annual Leaders’ Meeting.
If I may, terimah kasih, Bapak Presiden.
Australia’s relationship with Indonesia is one of our most important.
We’re linked not just by geography, but we are linked by choice.
We’ve enjoyed a long history of cooperation and friendship.
And our relationship is ever-deepened by the strategic and economic interests we share.
ANTHONY ALBANESE, PRIME MINISTER: Thanks for joining me. I've just returned from Bogor Palace after attending a very productive Annual Leaders’ Meeting with President Joko Widodo. My meeting with President Widodo was warm, it was productive and it was heartfelt. Though it wasn't the first time that we've met, the President and I shared not only the vision for our two countries and how we can best work together, we also shared our similar stories of humble beginnings.
ANTHONY ALBANESE, PRIME MINISTER OF AUSTRALIA: This is the first visit by any Australian Prime Minister to Makassar. Makassar is an important financial centre, it is the largest city in eastern Indonesia, and the visit here is to signify as well that the Australian Government understands that Indonesia is such a vast country and that we need to reach out. There are opportunities for Australian business and investment here in Indonesia.
Prime Minister: Thank you very much Mr President, and I thank you in addition for giving me the great honour of the bike ride that we just had. [laughs]
I can confirm to members of my delegation that there were no incidents. [laughs]
My Foreign Minister was not all that confident at the time. [laughs]