The RoadMap was developed as an industry driven initiative that involved substantial collaboration between the peak bodies, namely the Space Industry Association of Australia; Spatial Industries Business Association and Geospatial Council of Australia (at the commencement, SIBA-GITA and SSSI participated separately); Earth Observation Australia (EOA); and SmartSAT CRC. Leading government bodies including the Australian Space Agency, the Australia and New Zealand Land Information Council the Department of Defence, Geoscience Australia, Bureau of Meteorology and CSIRO, amongst others, also contributed.
Since its release, a number of changes have occurred, including:
- Cancellation of the National Space Mission for Earth Observation
- A redefinition of the Australian Space Agency’s role; it is currently no longer proceeding with the development of a national space and spatial strategy
- The federal government has moved away from the prior government’s industry development objectives for Australia’s space industry
- Government industry policy seems to be focused on advanced engineering/manufacturing
- The concept of sovereign capabilities is still being clarified
- The Government is no longer proactively supporting individual sectors, instead seeking to frame initiatives to meet key objectives and/or drive economic growth
These changes have required somewhat of a pivot needed by industry to enable constructive co-operation with federal government to ensure it objectives are met.
Read more in Spatial Source article.