Russell Matheson (Macarthur, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I move:

That this House:

(1) notes:

(a) the importance of complementary medicines and practices, including traditional Chinese medicines, to the international healthcare landscape;

(b) that the Australian complementary medicines industry is worth over $3.8 billion; and

(c) that Australia is the first western nation to nationally regulate Chinese medicine practitioners; and

(2) acknowledges:

(a) the National Institute of Complementary Medicine (NICM), hosted by the University of Western Sydney, as Australia's premier research facility in complementary medicine, being the only Australian complementary medicine research centre to receive the top ranking of five in the Commonwealth Excellence in Research for Australia scheme; and

(b) the role of the NICM in fostering collaboration and engagement with Chinese hospitals, research centres and universities to provide trade, research and investment opportunities in Australia.

Early this month, I spoke to the House about the significance of the complementary medicines industry in this country and the contribution it can make to improving wellness outcomes for Australians, as well as benefiting the economy. I would like to pay special tribute to Professor Alan Bensoussan and all the staff at the National Institute of Complementary Medicine at the University of Western Sydney for their vision and pioneering work in this important sector. NICM is Australia's premier research facility in complementary medicines and is playing a key national role in ensuring that Australians have access to reliable evidence on medicines and treatments in wide use. NICM is one of the two UWS research concentrations to be recognised by the Commonwealth rankings as performing research at well above world standard, ERA 5.

NICM Director Professor Bensoussan and his team have forged a broad network of links with national and international organisations in government and industry, including major collaborative research projects with key institutions in China. Professor Bensoussan received the prestigious International Award for Contribution to Chinese Medicine in 2013, which was conferred in the Great Hall of the People in China. He is the only recipient of that award to be based outside the People's Republic of China.

NICM's strong credentials in the area of Chinese medicine are well recognised and form the foundation for the proposed partnership with China's leading Chinese medicine university, the Beijing University of Chinese Medicine, BUCM, in establishing a clinical service and national education initiative that could eventually mature into a joint campus of the two universities. Founded in 1956, BUCM is one of the earliest established higher education facilities for Chinese medicine in China. NICM and BUCM have worked together since the late 1990s. This has included several highly productive collaborative research projects, higher degree research supervision and visiting scholar exchanges.

With the recent introduction of the statutory regulation of Chinese medicine practitioners in Australia, both parties believe the time is right to consider more substantial investment and joint partnership in the delivery of specialist clinical treatment services, performance of multi-centre clinical trials and collaboration on the development of Chinese medicine intellectual property. UWS and BUCM have signed a memorandum of understanding which was witnessed by Chinese President Xi Jinping and Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott in Canberra in November 2014.

BUCM have subsequently offered to invest $20 million in establishing a joint centre of Chinese medicine in Western Sydney. This funding will be directed towards building refurbishment and the first three years of clinical operation and educational services. Fully developed, the bilaterally supported initiative will provide clinical treatment services on a fee service basis; support student training and research; deliver Chinese medicine, education and training, including the development of potential double-badge qualifications; conduct pre-clinical and clinical research, including multicentre trials and clinical research training through NICM; and will include a museum, celebrating the history, depth and cultural significance of the practise of Chinese medicine.

I am proud to say that NICM is wholly located at the UWS Campbelltown campus in my electorate of Macarthur. However, the institute is rapidly outgrowing its current laboratory and office facilities and is exploring a range of sites in Western Sydney. The key national role that the institute is taking and its rapid expansion coincide with the dramatic changes currently underway in Macarthur. Thanks to the Baird and Abbott governments, $3.5 billion has been committed to major infrastructure upgrades over the next 10 years that will support the development of Sydney's South West Growth Centre, which will contain about 110,000 new dwellings for roughly 300,000 residents—almost the same population as Canberra.

The institute is aiming to advance health services in this major growth corridor, connecting directly to a new population within the South West Growth Centre at Oran Park, Leppington, Austral and Macarthur. According to a report last week in the Daily Telegraph, UWS has created a blueprint for establishing 'medical, science, technology, aviation and agribusiness hubs, each dotted along the outer Sydney orbital corridor and centred around … Badgerys Creek airport'. The establishment of a joint centre for Chinese medicine in Western Sydney with BUCM is at the core university's strategy as a key hub.

Other key hubs include plans to work in conjunction with the private sector to build a Sydney Science Park around Luddenham that would 'focus on becoming a leading international centre for research and development in food, energy and health'. There are also plans for a hi-tech business hub at Werrington Park 'that focuses on activating and growing technology and innovation-orientated businesses'. UWS's exciting and ambitious strategic plan has been dubbed Sydney IQ, with the Hon. Julie Bishop MP comparing it to how Silicon Valley was started in the United States. These key hubs will attract some of the smartest people in the world to the region and ensure that Macarthur's brightest students have access to cutting-edge research facilities and industries right on their doorstep.

Thanks to the UWS's grand plans and the hard work and dedication of people like Professor Bensoussan and his team at NICM, Macarthur is set to become an even better place to live and work.

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