Deborah O'Neill (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise in the shadow of many conversations of the last week—since the passing of the great Gough Whitlam—to speak to 'something little that has grown'. We have the image of Vincent Lingiari and the song by Paul Kelly that tells of little things that grow. A little education can be a great thing from which many great things can grow.

From small beginnings, when just 89 students were enrolled at the University of Newcastle's Central Coast campus, when it opened its doors in 1989, the UON Central Coast campus has now grown to over 4,500 students studying a diverse range of degrees in what we clearly call—and are proud to call our local university—a world-class institution.

Census data indicates that only 11.9 per cent of people on the Central Coast have achieved a bachelor's degree or higher. This is rather starkly compared to 20.7 per cent for the rest of New South Wales and a 40.5 per cent in greater Sydney. Clearly, having a local campus of high quality is critical for our local community. The UON Central Coast campus has increased local participation in higher education, with more than 11,600 students graduating from the Ourimbah campus since 1995. This has a nearly immeasurable impact on the Central Coast.

With world-class researchers, cutting-edge teaching and learning spaces—thanks to the recent $20 million upgrade of the campus's facilities, under the most recent Labor government—award-winning teachers and unique degrees that are exclusive to the UON Central Coast campus, our Ourimbah campus has provided its local community with the opportunity to participate in higher education without having to travel too far from home. For significant numbers of mature-age students attending university at the University of Newcastle's Newcastle campus and the Central Coast campus, proximity to study is a critical element of their decision to reskilling—upskilling—and enabling themselves and their families to benefit from investment in education.

This year, the University of Newcastle Central Coast campus is celebrating 25 years of providing education excellence, fostering innovation and increasing participation in higher education on the Central Coast. The Central Coast Campus 25th Anniversary Alumni Profile Series captures the unique journeys of 25 UON Central Coast campus graduates who have gone on to build careers and lives that have made an incredible difference in their chosen fields.

Some education and career journeys of the 11,600 UON Central Coast campus graduates have been shared as part of a special series to commemorate the milestone of the university's presence on the Central Coast. It is a way of inspiring other local residents to consider how a tertiary education could help reshape their futures. This vision of engagement and opportunity runs counter to the disgraceful piece of legislation that we have seen come forward from the government of this time, which can only be considered an instrument of exclusion for people.

One of the profiled people in this wonderful presentation—that is available through the university's website—is 2014 Gold Walkley-winning journalist Joanne McCarthy, who did so much to record the data that led to the current royal commission into institutional sexual violence against children. Joanne is the sister of Kevin—one of my favourite students that I taught on the Central Coast—and daughter of Barbara McCarthy, a wonderful local community activist. Joanne, in her testimony on this short video that is available on the website, talks about a choice to turn to university after having gone through a period of parenting. The possibility of doing that study was because a world-class high-quality university was accessible to her, in her community—it was physically, intellectually, socially and culturally accessible to her. Look what she has done for the nation as a result of access to that fine education.

Also celebrated are 2011 Telstra Young Business Woman of the Year winner, Jo Heighway, a wonderfully innovative local young businesswoman doing amazing work and employing very many people and connecting people with employment as well; Australian of the Year nominee and prominent psychologist, Dr Diane Bull, who is also an alumni of the Central Coast campus of the University of Newcastle; Environmentalist and co-founder of the Take 3, an international clean-beach initiative, Tim Silverwood; and one-time refugee, now academic, Dr Ibithal Samarayi, who escaped the Hussein regime in Iraq and is now inspiring others to pursue their education aspirations. She is lecturing at the University of Newcastle's ground-breaking enabling programs—Open Foundation and Newstep—that have had incredible success for local young students.

Thousands of Central Coast residents have taken up this alternative supportive pathway for undergraduate studies. I congratulate the university for their vision and commitment in enabling those opportunities for students to study through those pathways. As a former academic of the University of Newcastle Central Coast Campus, I met many students who came through from that enablement program. I congratulate Jason Van Genderen, an internationally acclaimed video specialist, of Treehouse Productions. He creates the most wonderful video stories, in a range of ways, and has documented the success of these illustrious alumni from the university.

The 25 stories have been captured on the university's website and make great viewing and reading for those seeking inspiration to study and will be used by the UON to encourage other Central Coast residents to consider their education options.

The celebration also marks the strong partnership of UON Central Coast campus, which they have established with local industry, business and community to drive leading education, innovation and research. A record number of postgraduate and research higher-degree students are now studying at the UON Central Coast campus, with these domestic and international students benefitting from the mutually-beneficial partnerships formed between the university and business, industry and the greater community.

These partnerships    have delivered contemporary studies and work-ready graduates who continue to be competitive on the national and international stage. The Joint UON and Central Coast Food Innovation Cluster, is an excellent example of these partnerships, and brings together researchers from across multiple disciplines within the University of Newcastle as well as experts from within the Central Coast food and beverage industry and government members, and draws on the diverse skills and knowledge of its members, to innovate ways to solve issues and problems relevant to the food and beverage industry, which is one of the largest employers on the Central Coast.

The cluster will also generate new ideas and create new opportunities for research breakthroughs which translate into practice, further driving innovation and the Central Coast's capacity to a leader in this field. All of this would be impossible without the community understanding and the commitment of the UON Central Coast campus and the leadership team there.

A research partnership between the UON Central Coast campus exercise and sport science academics and the 2012 A-league champions—our very famous Central Coast Mariners Football Club—has developed a training regime that resulted in the lowest player injury rate of the league. The Mariner's success in 2012, and their placing as runners-up in the 2013 season has been attributed to the winning edge attained through that training regime. The partnership also created an amazing opportunity for young Central Coast man, and UON PhD student, Tim Knight, to continue his research and work with the Mariners in his first professional coaching role as the Head of Sport Science and Football Conditioning.

With its focus on allied health, the UON Central Coast campus is also home to the Colgate oral health clinic, which provides cutting-edge, hands-on learning opportunities for both undergraduate and postgraduate students, as well as low-cost oral health care for the Central Coast community. The University also works closely with the Central Coast Local Health District to provide clinical placement opportunities for the UON podiatry students, and low-cost foot and lower-limb care for the Central Coast community at the University of Newcastle and Central Coast Local Health District podiatry clinic at the Wyong Hospital.

What is next for our wonderful local campus? Looking forward, the University of Newcastle will continue to consult with regional stakeholders and business leaders to explore the expansion of its program mix at the Central Coast campus, to reflect the changing skills needs on the Central Coast. The UON has also made a significant capital investment to assist in the reinvigoration of the Gosford CBD, with plans to develop a UON research and innovation hub, in the heart of the city. Sadly, it seems that we are still waiting for the Abbott government commitment of funding to hit the ground and allow the project locally known as Kibbleplex to advance. There has been a lot of talk but there has been pretty short delivery. That is holding up the university from getting on with the job.