Zoe McKenzie (Flinders, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

With acute disappointment for the Mornington Peninsula the Albanese government used its first budget to cut future funding for the national centre for coasts, environment and climate. That centre was to bring Monash University and the University of Melbourne together for the first higher education research institute on the Mornington Peninsula with a key focus on climate science. It would also give new life to a number of buildings within the Point Nepean National Park which are rapidly deteriorating.

This project has been long fought for not only by academics but also by our local community. Following the signing of a Commonwealth grant agreement in 2020 the universities undertook extensive consultation with Parks Victoria, the environment protection agency, the Mornington Peninsula Shire council as well as the Bunurong land council. Community consultation was indeed well underway. The last one was held only one month ago, with two renowned academics present, Professor Tim Dempster of the University of Melbourne and Professor Peter Currie of Monash University. Locals met with these two world-leading scientists at the Point Nepean markets on 25 September.

The budget papers state that the funding for the national centre for coasts, environment and climate was cut because the project does not align with environmental spending priorities. This is a project that brought together two of the world's top 50 universities for the purposes of climate science. It is a shame it will be no longer.