Palermo made the comments during the unveiling of a new Allied Mission System, designed to allow agencies and militaries to understand activity in the space domain and translate that information into coordinated actions, announced by SAAB Australia on 20 October.
“In the federal budget this year, actually the government reaffirmed the operations of the (Australian Space) agency and awarded funding for the next two years and that reaffirms our core functions across coordinating, developing policy for government, shaping national capability, developing the international partnerships,” Palermo said.
“A critical role to regulate space activities in Australia and then our role to inspire the nation.
“I do want to summarise though, in the last 18 months, the Australian government, through the National Reconstruction Fund, has invested over $200 million now in seven space or space-adjacent companies and that’s crowded in altogether about $600 million.
“So that capital investment, both from government and venture capitalists and other investors, is really going to supercharge the next phase of growth of the Australian space sector.”
Earlier this year, the Australian government announced a new statement of expectations for the Australian Space Agency and allocated the agency about $21.7 million in operating budget funding as part of a broader $1.5 billion science and research funding package under the 2026 to 2027 federal budget.
Space Industry Association of Australia chief executive Dan Lloyd has previously characterised the funding as “maintenance, not investment” in Australia’s space sector.
“While we welcome the Space Agency’s place within the broader $1.5 billion science and institutions commitment, the space funding is a fraction of the billions that Australia’s peers and rivals are investing, such as Canada,” Lloyd said.
“It sustains regulatory and policy functions; it does not grow our industry, fund sovereign capability development or replace the grant programs that do.
“The government describes this funding as supporting the Space Agency ‘as part of fostering a local space sector’ – we agree that is exactly what the agency should be doing. But fostering a sector requires grant programs that grow companies and fund sovereign capability.
“We also note the establishment of a new National Resilience and Science Council to coordinate public innovation investment – space must be central to that work, and SIAA will be seeking early engagement.”
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