Lucy Wicks (Robertson, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My constituency question is to the Minister for Industry, Innovation and Science. Could the minister update the House on the actions that the Turnbull government is taking to boost medical research and grow jobs on the Central Coast. What action is the government taking to support the Central Coast medical school and medical research institute and surrounding precinct in Gosford?

Greg Hunt (Flinders, Liberal Party, Minister for Industry, Innovation and Science) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I want to thank the member for Robertson. On the subject of delivery, as the Prime Minister was referring to, I was really thrilled to be able to meet with all of those associated with the new Central Coast medical school and medical research institute for which the member for Robertson fought over a period of three years which, at the end of her first term, she was able to deliver with a pledge of $32.5 million in the last election, and which we are now planning and working on so it delivers places for students this term. And that means three things for the people of Robertson: firstly, better health; secondly, it means opportunities for the students; and thirdly, it means jobs.

In particular on the jobs front—and I want to acknowledge the member for Robertson's vision and role in this space—there is a first wave of jobs which will come from the construction of the medical school and the research institute—plumbers and plasterers, building supplies, people involved in the construction industry. Then of course there are 750 ongoing jobs which will come from the operation of the medical school as it trains not just doctors but nurses and other health professionals on an ongoing basis, an incredible opportunity for people on the Central Coast to work and to be trained. Then of course what the member for Robertson was really looking for was to create something very special and that will be a third wave from jobs by establishing a medical precinct, a precinct of emerging businesses, of campuses for existing major firms in the health field and in the medical field.

In order to achieve this third wave of jobs, what we agreed to establish was a medical precinct task force for the Central Coast. It is the first such task force to be established by this government but we want to establish 39 equivalent task forces with all of Australia's public universities. It is about creating jobs in the private sector but building off the strength of our universities. The member for Robertson will chair this task force. She is committed to the first meeting being within two months and to preparing a plan to carry out that third wave of jobs within six months. In order to do that, she is bringing together the health services of the Central Coast, she is bringing together the University of Newcastle, which will be the operator of the medical school, and she is bringing together the community. This compares with what we have heard today from an opposition which did not deliver such a thing when they had six years in government and right now they are talking about planned closures of industrial assets. In other words, we are creating jobs; they are destroying jobs and that is all any of us need to know from today. (Time expired)