Sean Edwards (SA, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It is quite fitting that you, Acting Deputy President Back, as a former practising veterinarian, are in the chair to listen to my contribution tonight. It is also fitting that Senator Fawcett, a former member for Wakefield, is also in the chamber. We also have in the chamber the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Agriculture, who deals with all things horses, and that is what I am about to talk about—the Roseworthy Agricultural College, which is a campus of the University of Adelaide. More particularly, I am going to talk about the new, world-class, $13 million Equine Health and Performance Centre recently completed and opened at Roseworthy—specifically the campus adjoining the other new herd animal, sheep and cattle, facility at Roseworthy.

In all it was part of a $37 million renovation to the campus, which is home to the School of Animal and Veterinary Sciences and features other veterinary health centres for areas such as companion animals, production animals and veterinary diagnostics. The specific centre I am talking about tonight was opened in late October 2013. I was pleased to visit and meet with Dr Erik Noschka, senior lecturer in equine surgery, just recently. According to a recent report of the Australian Bureau of Statistics, the equine industry in Australia is worth some $15 billion annually, and it is therefore necessary to have the state-of-the-art facilities to diagnose and treat horses as well as to provide the vital tools and learning experience for the veterinarians of the future.

This is a teaching facility on a campus, but it is also a commercial operation. The Equine Health and Performance Centre, as part of this multimillion-dollar upgrade, provides diagnostic and healthcare facilities, routine and specialist surgery rooms—and I must say these surgery rooms are huge given that they have to take such large animals—a reproduction facility, intensive care wards and integrated learning spaces, to name just a few of the new facilities on site. Added to this is the mobile equine service, which provides a first point of care and can make referrals to the veterinary health centre. This is the only centre of its kind in South Australia and is said to compete favourably with the best equine teaching hospitals in the world. I was particularly impressed with how well the centre is designed, offering best practice services not only to horses but also to animal species of similar sizes. I must say they cater very well for the owners and the people who care for these animals as well; they have not been forgotten.

This is a true teaching hospital where students in the final years of their tertiary education in veterinary science are given hands-on experience treating animals with any number of different conditions while being taught by expert tutors and veterinarians. The completion of the build has assisted the veterinary school with successfully meeting the guidelines for clinical teaching and training required by the profession as well as the accreditation bodies of Australia, New Zealand and the UK, and it is capable of future adaptation to address the US accreditation guidelines also.

Recently the equine centre acquired a 16-slice Alexian CT scanner after thorough investigation and feasibility study. This machine provides invaluable diagnostic capacities but is also a great instructional tool and a revenue raiser for the school of animal and veterinary sciences. The CT scanner can be used on a variety of different animal species, not just equine ones, and will hopefully lure new staff and researchers to South Australia. One unfortunate deficiency—and one which the centre is seeking to address—is that it currently lacks other advanced imaging equipment such as a magnetic resonance imaging, or MRI as we know it, and radiography equipment as well as bone scan technology, which would provide both teaching and revenue opportunities for the centre. There is a growing expectation within the veterinary professions that undergraduates have experience with advanced imaging techniques, and the acquisition of these machines would stand our graduates in good stead. It is noted that, when benchmarked against other leading veterinary schools in Australasia, our lack of these modalities show the centre's shortcomings in the diagnostic department.

When meeting Dr Noschka and other staff, I could see their passion for the teaching and the practice of equine medicine and the pride they have in their new facility. It is always a pleasure to see what achievements can be made with diligent and productive work, and the efforts of Dr Noschka should be noted. He has, however, indicated that work on the centre is not yet complete and is determined to see these two imaging machines at the centre as soon as possible. Without them, he believes, the undergraduates will find themselves held back when competing for work in a highly specialised job market.

There are further benefits of having this technology on site, with increased diagnostic services for horses in South Australia and a revenue raiser for the university. The situation at Roseworthy stands as a prime example of what the government is seeking to achieve with its education reforms. The ability for universities to specialise their teaching areas and to provide the latest equipment in those fields helps to attract the brightest researchers, teachers and students. International education is the sixth overall export for the South Australian economy and the No. 1 service export, with more than 28,000 students choosing to study in South Australian universities in 2012. With the creation of facilities such as these and with appropriate equipment, South Australia stands to benefit from increased student numbers and the greater economic contributions that those students bring.

The fact that this facility also provides direct assistance to the community should also be noted. You can pull up there with your car, your horse float or your stock crate and see a vet and be dealt with very quickly. The Roseworthy and Gawler area is about 50 kilometres north of the centre of Adelaide and is already home to a number of equine related industries, including a racetrack, trainers and other services. To expand the diagnostic capacity of the Equine Health and Performance Centre would provide further opportunity for a cluster industry to develop in this area, creating jobs and drawing further local and international interest and investment to South Australia's northern metropolitan suburbs, all areas which are showing strong population growth but, unfortunately, suffer from high unemployment.

The Equine Health and Performance Centre is a critical component that has allowed the University of Adelaide to fulfil its desire to create an internationally accredited veterinary degree program. However, it still needs further support to obtain the full diagnostic suite not only to compete but to excel on the international stage. We wish them every success in this bold and enterprising approach to advanced education and research in equine health as this is a very important industry and a very important and healthy recreational area for millions of Australians. We will seek to continue in our pursuit of facilitating those pieces of equipment which will let this facility maintain its endeavour to be a world-class facility.