Ed Husic (Chifley, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary to the Shadow Treasurer) Share this | Hansard source

It gives me pleasure to speak on this because, like the member for Lindsay, I had the honour and privilege of being able to graduate from the University of Western Sydney. As Western Sydney residents, we wanted to see, particularly amongst our generation and future generations, the ability for people to attend tertiary education within a region that we call home and that we believe holds great economic promise for the rest of the nation.

I graduated in the early nineties when the university had just started to take form. It had been in the pipeline for quite some time. In 1987, in the lead-up to the university being formally established, it was supposed to be named Chifley University—a name I certainly would not have had any issue with given the privilege I have in representing the electors of Chifley in this place. However, controversially, in 1989 the then state coalition government did not agree and decreed that it would become the University of Western Sydney. The fights over the name have well and truly gone and I think we all support the university in its continued operation and the fact that it is a platform for great opportunity, as I said earlier and as I reflected on a few moments ago, for the young people of our region.

You can see this through the growth of the university. I attended the Werrington campus—first the Kingswood campus and then the Werrington campus. You could see the growth through Bankstown, Campbelltown, obviously in Parramatta and at the site that it had in Westmead, which was the initial launching platform into Parramatta itself, and in Hawkesbury. Bringing together different colleges of advanced education, as they were once known, and bringing them under the umbrella of a university was a major deal. As I said, it is something that we can be rightly proud of.

I have spoken very positively in times past of the university and I will continue to do so. It does not necessarily mean that I look at the university through rose coloured glasses. There have been concerns on decisions that have been made by the university from time to time. There was a great deal of concern a few years ago when the university was looking to shut down its course of economics. We might be talking about a free trade agreement today, but not offering an economics course seemed to be rather odd given the fact that the economy of Western Sydney is one of the largest in the country and we need to ensure that we train up our own army or barrage of economists coming from the region that have an affinity with the region. Certainly, at that point in time, the argument was made by the university that the demand was not there for the economics course to be maintained and hence it was not continued—or the argument was that it would not be continued, although economics and business courses are, thankfully, offered by the university,

It does beg the question of how to assign resources for certain things, like the things that we are talking about today, in a climate where financial pressure is well and truly on. That financial pressure is no doubt being exercised, in my mind and in the minds of many of ours on this side of the House, on the proposed changes to higher education funding reform. There is $1.9 billion in cuts to universities that are being proposed in the current bill, mark 2. There will still be $100,000 degrees for undergraduate students. There are about $171 million in cuts to equity programs; $200 million cuts in indexation of grant programs; critically, $170 million in cuts to research training; and $80 million in cuts to the Australian Research Council.

The reason I mention those last two points, in particular, is to pick up on a point that the member for Lindsay made about innovation. It would be great for our university to be able to partner effectively with business in our region and ensure that we have a transfer of knowledge, a sharing of assets—particularly by start-ups, by innovative firms and by the university. We need to find the money to do that. But if they are under the financial pressure that is potentially going to be imposed on them by the bill that is being debated in the House and in other places then that is going to be a cause for concern, and people will rightly ask why we are championing, on one hand, what is being put forward in the substance of this resolution when we are not able to see other things occur.

I continue to hear rumours, for instance, about the future of the Hawkesbury campus, and that is of great concern to me. Those rumours may be unfounded, but people are sufficiently concerned to raise those with me. I have also heard rumours that the heart of UWS will be moved from Werrington to Parramatta. I understand that the Parramatta campus has grown phenomenally and one of its champions is here in the House, the member for Parramatta herself. While Parramatta is an astoundingly great campus, there is something important about maintaining the heritage of Werrington, being in the heart of Western Sydney in the way that it is. I am concerned about that heart being taken out of Werrington, out of the electorate of the member for Lindsay, and moved out of there. There are also questions—I mentioned Hawkesbury. As much as there is celebration about the expansion plans that have been announced for Parramatta, there is undeniable evidence that Western Sydney will continue to grow westward. There are about half a million people expected in the north-west and the south-west. We need to be making sure that we dedicate as much investment as necessary for the people that are moving in there.

I make this argument not from a parochial basis. I am not arguing this as the member for Chifley; I am arguing this as a member who believes in the growth of Western Sydney and that we should have the infrastructure there for people across the region. Naturally, I am very proud of the fact that UWS has a presence at Nirimba, which is in the Chifley electorate, but it will also have those growing pains and those growing pressures continue. As I said, I am very happy if the university is branching out, particularly in terms of using the auspices of a free trade agreement to work with our friends in China, but at the same time we want to make sure that they can also deliver for the region. The continuing need to deliver for the region as it continues its fast pace of growth is something that has to be front and centre.

I have not yet had the opportunity to meet formally with the new Vice-Chancellor, Barney Glover. I do look forward to doing so at some point. His people seek to assure me that they are balancing out their growth plans in a way that will deliver for the region. I look forward to hearing the actual detail to back up the claim. But I do want to ensure, as I have regularly argued both here and elsewhere, that as Western Sydney continues to move its expansion westward people in those areas do not suffer a lag in service or infrastructure. At the same time as meeting those new needs I want to ensure, as I am sure—and this is regardless of your politics—we all want to make sure, that existing service in the electorates, for example, of Parramatta, of Chifley, of Greenway, of Lindsay, of Macarthur continue to be sustained, and sustained thoroughly.

But there are, as I have indicated before, concerns about what is happening on that front. We are certainly happy about, and the member for Parramatta has rightly advised of, the strong links that the university has had with the pharmaceutical industry and the collaboration that has occurred there. We would want to see that broadened, and I understand that the member for Parramatta will expand on this issue further. I think we are unified on our side of the House about the future of universities like the University of Western Sydney. I also look forward to hearing the vice-chancellor's comments on what the impact of the higher education bill would be on the University of Western Sydney if those cuts are to eventuate. Western Sydney would be rightly, justifiably concerned about the impact on the quality of education in our region if the higher education changes being put forward by this government take effect as they are celebrating, in part, an international expansion while there is so much pressure on the domestic front to deliver service.

So I think there are questions to be asked of the coalition members from Western Sydney about what assurances are being given for the University of Western Sydney's continued operation of delivering high-quality education to the people of our region into the future. I think there are also questions to be asked obviously and respectfully of the university management about how they will manage growth into the years to come. While we certainly recognise, respect and celebrate international expansion, we want to ensure that the core function of this university, delivering education for Western Sydney students, is maintained. While we may have differences about aspects of policy, and certainly some of the things I have said will be contested by those opposite, I think we are unified in wanting to see Western Sydney students getting a quality level of university education that is enjoyed by others in the country.

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