Kay Hull (Riverina, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

It is outstanding. It is the best success story. Charles Sturt University worked very cooperatively with me to say, ‘If we can have that type of success in pharmacy, we can also have success in other significant areas if we are given an opportunity.’ Veterinary science was one such opportunity. The number of veterinary surgeons in rural areas is at an all-time low, particularly vets specialising in heavy animals. Most veterinary surgeons decide to specialise in companion animals, but rural and regional Australia had problems getting enough heavy animal veterinarians and veterinary surgeons. We argued for and fought to get vet science included in the Charles Sturt University curriculum. To Charles Sturt University’s credit, they reorganised and restructured their payments and the way in which they funded their courses and decided to offer vet science, with no contribution from government.

They have been extraordinarily successful in attracting the most eminent professors from international arenas to come to offer a fabulous model and course for veterinary science that is done in conjunction with the local vet surgeons and the local veterinarian surgery. It has been a success and I am very, very proud that within the budget we were able to access $2.1 million for Charles Sturt University vet science in addition to their previous budget $2.1 million that has seen some fantastic diagnostic facilities and laboratories established at Charles Sturt University.

To expand on this, Charles Sturt University indicated: ‘We have a significant supply side of rural dental professionals.’ So Kerry Bartlett and I, with an excellent proposal worked up by Charles Sturt University, embarked upon ensuring that this proposal on its merit was absolutely successful. We and Charles Sturt University were rewarded for our very, very hard work in the budget when $65.1 million was allocated to Charles Sturt University. That was to provide services and a dental school. We have a dental school with a preclinical and clinical facility constructed in Wagga Wagga and Orange, and three dental education clinics will be constructed in Albury, Bathurst and Dubbo. It was excellent news on budget evening to learn that Charles Sturt University will be able to offer this dental course to start to resolve particularly the supply side of dentistry through regional areas. We will have 240 new training places for dental and oral health students over five years.

This, in itself, is an enormous commitment from this government. There have been allegations flying left, right and centre that the Howard government cut dental out of the budget and cut the money for dental services when it came to power in 1996. That is wrong—absolutely wrong. That allegation is false. Former Prime Minister Mr Keating and the Labor government put in a program to assist the states with dental funding, but it had a sunset clause.

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