Ms Julie Bishop (Curtin, Liberal Party, Minister for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

I note the member for Lindsay's great interest in the New Colombo Plan, which will be a transformative initiative for generations of young Australians. I am pleased that the member mentioned our visit to the University of Western Sydney's Penrith campus last February. We had a very good New Colombo Plan event and got some marvellous feedback from the students in her electorate.

In answer to her direct question about the budget, I can confirm that the government will spend around $28 million to support Australian students through the New Colombo Plan in 2015-16. This year in particular the New Colombo Plan will support around 3,200 students through scholarships and mobility grants. In 2016 the government will offer around 100 scholarships and around 4,750 mobility grants. What this means—and I know the member for Lindsay and the member for Solomon will be interested in this—is that this will take the total number of students supported through the New Colombo Plan since the pilot program began in 2014 to around 10,000 students by the end of 2016. So in two to three years it will be almost 10,000 students.

The member for Lindsay referred to the University of Western Sydney. They have been an enthusiastic supporter of the New Colombo Plan, and I thank the member for Lindsay for the engagement that she has had with the university in encouraging students to apply for New Colombo Plan scholarships and mobility grants. In many instances, the students receiving these grants and this funding have never been overseas, no member of their family has been overseas and they have not had the opportunity to study in our region.

Since the New Colombo Plan was established two years ago, I can confirm that 186 Australian undergraduate students from the University of Western Sydney have been supported to live, study and work in our region under the New Colombo Plan. That is 186 from the University of Western Sydney. This includes six students who have received the prestigious year-long New Colombo Plan scholarships.

Timothy Mann was a 2014 scholarship recipient. He is currently studying biological and molecular biological sciences in Japan, and he will be doing an internship at the RIKEN Brain Science Institute. Another student from your electorate, Member for Lindsay, Candice Skelton, has studied biology at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. According to Candice, her New Colombo Plan experience allowed her to 'grow as a person and to see life through a new perspective'.

The remaining 180 students have benefited from New Colombo Plan mobility grants that support shorter and longer term study, internships and practicums in the region. The member for Lindsay will be interested to know 20 nursing students travelled to Thailand to study healthcare delivery in remote districts including during a short-term practicum with Chiang Mai University and Om Goi hospital. There are 15 development study students who are travelling to India to volunteer at a non-government organisation focusing on the advocacy and rights of people with intellectual disabilities, and 15 social science, community development, planning and tourism students who will travel to rural communities in Vietnam to examine issues relating to poverty and climate change.

All these students are having the opportunity to study and work in one of 38 eligible locations from India and Pakistan in the west, to Mongolia in the north and the Cook Islands in the east. In recent months I have launched the New Colombo Plan in Thailand, Tonga, the Cook Islands and Kiribati, and I can tell you it is an enormously successful exercise in soft power diplomacy. It has been raised positively by President Xi Jinping of China, President Tan of Singapore and Prime Minister Abe in Japan. They have all raised the New Colombo Plan as an example of this government's commitment to soft power diplomacy at its best. The New Colombo Plan will also benefit the individual students by giving them new insights, new skills and new ideas that will enhance our country's productivity and prosperity.

Opposition members: Hear, hear!

I thank the members opposite for their cheers, because this is a bipartisan initiative that receives incredible support across the board. No wonder they want to be on board with this one, because it will build a generation of friendships, connections and professional networks between Australia and the region. The benefits of the New Colombo Plan were emphasised by Singapore's President Tony Tan when he said:

I am confident that the New Colombo Plan will play an important role in strengthening our education and people-to-people ties. The New Colombo Plan also reflects the Australian Government's broader focus on enhancing its engagement with Asia.

So I thank the member for Lindsay for her very pertinent question about supporting Australia's youth and engaging in the region. (Time expired)

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