Remarks, Opening of Central Coast Clinical School and Research Institute Gosford, NSW
14 March 2022
Prime Minister: Well, thank you very much, Lucy. It's tremendous to be here with you on this very important day and with so many faces and so many individuals who have been part of this journey over the last decade, as as Lucy has just shared her story. Carol and Alex, and everybody who's been involved.
Can I, before making some remarks, though, also acknowledge the Darkinyung people, and thank you for your wonderful welcome to country here today, and to their Elders past, present and emerging.
Can I acknowledge any serving members of our Defence Forces or veterans who are amongst us, and thank them for their service.
I want to congratulate everyone who’s been involved in delivering this incredible world-class health and medical precinct. Of course, there’s Chancellor Paul Jeans and Vice-Chancellor Professor Zelinsky.
The Gosford Hospital and Central, sorry, I should say, the Central Coast Local Health District, including Scott McLachlan, the Chief Executive of the Local Health District.
The New South Wales Government, and I want to acknowledge as well, they’re a partner in this this great venture. And Adam, to you, who have been carrying this dream along with Lucy over a long time. Congratulations to you, and I acknowledge the Premier, who’s obviously not here today for for obvious reasons, but I know about his passion as well.
There are so many people who have been involved in this, but I think you'd agree with me and indulge me in really thanking Lucy for what she's done here. When my girls were younger, I came home one night and hanging above, I think it was Lily's bed, was this strange, macrame looking woollen thing. I don't know how to describe this. And I said, “Darling, what is that?” And she said, “It's a, it's a dream catcher.” Ok. Well, this is, this is what Lucy's like. She is a dream catcher. I think it's very modest of her to say that it wasn't her dream, but I think she's right in saying it was a dream of the community. And as a local Member of Parliament, she's been catching the dreams of this community for a very long time and she's been turning them into reality, which makes her such a fine Member of Parliament. But more importantly than that, such an incredibly important member of the Central Coast community. And I'm very proud of what she's achieved here, as a dear friend of hers. But I think you’re even more proud than I am, because we are now all standing in the product of your collective efforts, that she's played such a significant role in bringing together here today.
It is true that when, it was Caroline at the time who came and sat in my office with a whole bunch of people as we talked about this project when I was Treasurer. And yes, we did run the numbers up there and it did make sense. I was very pleased that I did say yes, and kept saying yes. And I do look forward to saying yes to stages two, three, four and five, and being there to give you the answer. Because this project is more, even more than just a clinical college and research institute. See, the way we understand, as a Government, how regions fire and how they work is Australia is just not the eight capital cities. It's way more than that. Australia is far bigger than those major cities that we call our capitals, and it extends into the regions. And when I look at the regions, I see the future income and powerhouse of the Australian economy, and the future well-being and livelihoods of countless, millions of Australians who will increasingly take up that dream - where you can go and live and work in a place like the Central Coast. We feel that same way down in the Sutherland Shire. You can live and work there, well, you've got the absolute lottery of life. And I know people on the Central Coast feel that way. I know people in Newcastle feel that way. I know people, you know, down out in Geelong and places like that all feel that way, because such is the passion for living in these parts of our country.
But for that to work, you've got to have a community base of infrastructure and services. And what makes all of that work, is an economy that can support that. And what excited me about this as Treasurer, I wasn't the Minister for Health, I was the Treasurer, and a university sits at the heart of pretty much every successful economic regional plan you care to nominate anywhere in the world, let alone in Australia. But not any university that, you know, keeps itself separate from the rest of the community and walks around in gowns and looks down on everybody. And, you know, only looks at things that are remotely interesting to anyone. It's a university that's very practical and understands the opportunities, whether it's in science or medicine or in any other areas or fields of enquiry and research, and is raising up a workforce and a generation of people that can actually transform the region in which they're living. Now that's what the University of Newcastle’s been doing.
The campus has been here for many years. But what captivated me in that original meeting - I don’t know if ever I’ve told you this - was that vision of the University of Newcastle to be really a, a university for the whole Central Coast Hunter region, and to be firing up the enterprises that are across the Central Coast and the Hunter to bring the best possible researchers into these universities in regional areas that make them world leaders.
And I I agree with you, and Christopher would be over the moon that you mentioned him today, but as for the Members of Parliament they’ll all know Christopher Pyne well, he loves a mention. But Christopher was right. And when I look at our regional universities, I get really excited. I get excited about the University of Newcastle. I get excited about the other universities like University of Western Sydney or the University of Wollongong or or Griffith or all of these, Deakin and so on, because what I find in those universities, and forgive me, Lucy, if this is a bit off topic, is I see a dynamism, I see an innovation, I see an engagement with industry and the community, and I see a connection to the services. And this is what I want for universities in Australia. I don't want them to be remote. I want them to be part of the community in which they sit. And not just, and I mean, the the economy of that community.
One of our most important parts of our economic plan is a sovereign manufacturing capability, and for that to occur in the six areas that we've nominated, and one of those is medical, medical manufacturing, medical instruments and pharmaceuticals, and all of these - exactly what a research institute will be doing. And I want manufacturers, more and more of them, coming here and basing themselves on the Central Coast and making things and inventing things and developing things and selling lots of them, not just in Australia, but all around the world. And that's going to happen here on the Central Coast because this institute is here, and those who will work at this institute and were trained here at the clinical school, who will be caring for patients across the road, they will be moving in and out of companies that will be based here on the Central Coast, and this will become quite a, quite a place for this area of activity.
And I know that Newcastle University gets that, because I had the same conversation with them up the road in the Hunter when we're talking about hydrogen and all of those areas of energy, new energy technologies and research. And so that's why I’m excited about this. This is what sold me - she had me at the University of Newcastle, and because I could see the linkage between that, the service delivery, the economic growth that would come, and you know, at the end of the day, which is what I think makes Lucy so excited about it all, is what it means for young people growing up on the Central Coast. To think you can become one of the world's leading Michael cardiologists - Dr Feneley’s here with us, Dr Feneley, our Liberal candidate for Dobell.
You can achieve anything you want as a young kid growing up here on the Central Coast, and you never have to leave the place to achieve it. And that wasn't always true, it wasn’t true. But that is becoming more and more true for another generation of young people growing up on the Central Coast. So we were really excited to put $45 million into this project. I love investing in things as a Government that works, and that transforms regions and transforms lives, and I think this scores on on all of those points. And I was really excited when we drove up here because I remembered the day when I stood right out the front there with Lucy and we announced the funding for the project. And it was basically a a site full of rubbish and rolling down the hill and into now, I couldn't have even conceived this, what this building would look like on this site. But I had no doubt that those I was with that day would, could certainly see it, and it will look a lot like that [inaudible]. A lot like that in their minds.
So look, I want to thank you, Lucy, for having me on part of this journey over the last five years to see this realised as Prime Minister and initiated as Treasurer. But to those more than 200 medical students, 600 nursing students, 20 graduate and postgraduate midwifery students, the first intake from this site this year, the PhD students that will be here, this, they will create a legacy here which will endure, and endure for generations to come. So thank you for the great privilege of being involved and congratulations to all of you. It’s a, it’s a big deal for the Coast. Cheers.
