Thursday, 19 February 2026

 Richard WELCH (North-Eastern Metropolitan) (10:02): I recently visited the Lunar Outpost Oceania business in Melbourne. They are helping build Australia’s first lunar rover, the Roo-ver, backed by $42 million from the Australian Space Agency, an investment which is slated to fly it to the moon before 2030. What I saw was real capability, with engineering that survives in extreme conditions and autonomy that works where no-one can intervene, built on continuous problem-solving and exquisite engineering. I would like to emphasise the importance to Melbourne and Victoria of this advanced manufacturing and how this is a key part of our future economic ecosystem.