As a member of the committee which developed the “Chapman Report” which was briefly mentioned in the document you linked to (and which landed with a resounding thud on the steps of parliament, to be stamped “rejected”), i’m not terribly surprised by yet another attempt by the Aussies to get another movement going to start Down Under NASA….

I wouldn’t hold my breath, though. If you read through the arguments (space builds character?!? Really, is that the best they could come up with?) it’s hard in a recessionary environment to get a government to open up it’s budget to yet another mouth to feed… Bruce Middleton had recommended $50m back in the 90s – i don’t see that necessarily happening in this day and age, even with a different government in power.