David Gillespie (Lyne, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I'd like to give a big shout-out to the volunteer members of the Taree Universities Campus bid, who were successful in the latest Regional University Centres funding round. I congratulate the chairman, John Howard; Alison McIntosh; Lisa Proctor; Graham Brown; Maurie Stack; and Steve Atkins for their commitment and work in getting us to where we are today. I'd also like to thank Moira Coffey for all her work and advice and the members of the Geraldton Universities Centre that we visited for their advice. I'd also like to thank the various organisations and institutions in the Manning and Great Lakes area that contributed to the project steering committee, including council, local schools, business chambers and potential partnering institutions.

I look forward to many of those members joining the soon-to-be-established Taree Universities Campus foundation, which will be a fundraising entity and also voluntary to help support the upcoming Taree Universities Campus. It will be a great asset to the whole Manning and Great Lakes community. There is a crying need for this, which was established in an electorate-wide survey of what people had as their vision for our community in the 2030s. An expanded opportunity for tertiary studies will complement the TAFE, which is one of the partners in the steering committee, and many of the businesses that are looking for upgraded qualifications for their members.