Fiona Scott (Lindsay, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

Madam Deputy Speaker Wicks, it is fabulous to see your elevation to the Speaker's Panel. Today I stand here as a proud advocate for my community of Western Sydney, shoulder to shoulder with my neighbour and ally the member for Macarthur. We are proud members of Western Sydney and we are proud of the future that Western Sydney will have.

Today we are talking about Chinese medicine. Chinese medicine is going to be very significant to the future jobs growth for the people of Western Sydney. As part of the Chinese free trade agreement, the Beijing University of Chinese medicine and the University of Western Sydney have joined together in researching Chinese medicine in Western Sydney. This will mean thousands and thousands of jobs for the people of Western Sydney. Already we have seen $20 million from this memorandum of understanding flow to the University of Western Sydney. However, the MOU contains more than just that; it will form part of an innovation corridor that will go from Campbelltown through to Luddenham, up to Werrington and then across into Blacktown. This innovation corridor includes amazing projects like the Sydney Science Park, which will be located in Luddenham. The Sydney Science Park will be a new centre of excellence in the key growth areas of food security, energy and health. This internationally recognised epicentre for research and development will employ 12,200 professionals, educate 10,000 students and provide quality residences and infrastructure to cater to them. This is about as exciting as it can get. We are not talking about low-skilled jobs; we are talking about smart jobs. Western Sydney has long been viewed as the poor part of the rest of Australia, but every single member in this place who represents Western Sydney from our side and even those from the other side is a proud advocate of this community. What is exciting about today is that this Chinese medicine MOU with UWS will allow us to compete with an industry which generates $4.7 million locally and $170 billion right across the world. What we will be able to do is to start an accreditation process for Chinese medicines and potentially then look at how we could provide western manufacturing techniques to then commercialise these medicines. This is important news for the people of Western Sydney. This agreement capitalises on all of these successes, but it will take Chinese medicines and western medicines that very next step.

For the first time outside China, an accredited institute will scientifically evaluate the worth of all these herbal medicines. With the scientific research behind them, the University of Western Sydney will establish GP prototype clinics where conventional medicine and Chinese medicines will be offered side-by-side—complementing each other, not exclusive of each other. The aim is to get Chinese medicines accepted inside the local GP practice with the confidence behind them so that our local GPs know exactly what they are prescribing and they know they can trust them. The outcome is more choice for you, more choice for the consumer, and, in the end, better treatments and cheaper treatments for us all.

I would really like to applaud University of Western Sydney for taking this leading position. It is a university that I am an alumni of, and it is leading the world and providing huge opportunity for all Australians. Their own National Institute of Complementary Medicine will provide all of these services. This agreement really does show that the University of Western Sydney is a dynamic, daring, smart and innovative institution—an institution that I am very proud to hold a degree from. While this is very much a team effort, one of the driving forces behind all of this has been the Vice-Chancellor, Barney Glover, and the Chancellor, Peter Shergold. I would like to congratulate them for their forethought in putting this all together.

This is one agreement that is a fantastic story. It is good news for all Australians, and it will initially lead to the employment of around 90 Australians, and in the future potentially thousands. This education corridor will be fabulous for the people of Western Sydney, it will be fabulous for all Australians, and it will allow Australians to lead the way when it comes to medical research.

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