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HANSARD EXTRACT

Higher Education Legislation Amendment (2005 Budget Measures) Bill 2005: Second Reading

16 August 2005

Mr HAYES (Werriwa) (6.43 p.m.)—I am pleased to have the opportunity to speak in support of the extension of funding, particularly in relation to the University of Western Sydney. I wish to speak on the extension of funding for the new medical school at Campbelltown. While I wholeheartedly support the development of a medical school at the Campbelltown campus, I do have some concerns. A $7 million injection of funds into the development of the university’s medical school is a welcome investment in the south-west of Sydney. It is an investment which I would suggest is well overdue. Although this commitment does not match the one that Labor took to the last election, clearly Labor’s commitment of some $43 million has made the government realise that the medical school is something that is needed for our region.

The Minister for Education, Science and Training noted in his second reading speech:

The ... medical school will enhance and improve the teaching hospital capacity and the delivery of health and medical services in western and south-western Sydney. It will also provide opportunities for local students to study medicine in their own region.

Might I suggest that the development of this medical school is on track. I am pleased to note that in the week before last the Macarthur Advertiser reported that the Australian Medical Council had approved the first stage of the university’s medical school, which gives the university the go-ahead to implement their medical program. The Advertiser went on to report that over the coming months the university will develop detailed plans, outlining such matters as curricula, staffing facilities, research and clinical placements. It is expected that this second stage of the process will be submitted to the Australian Medical Council for its consideration sometime in February next year.

I would like to take this opportunity to commend the work of the dean of the medical school, Professor Neville Yeomans, and the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Western Sydney, Professor Janice Reid, for their hard work in getting the school to this point. They should be recognised for and congratulated on their efforts.

The development of a local, high-quality medical school and medical training infrastructure is extremely important to south-west Sydney and Western Sydney because our region needs more doctors. As a young and rapidly growing community, the ability to find affordable and accessible medical services is essential. In my electorate alone, there are more than 20,000 families with dependent children. Although the medical school will be a welcome addition to the medical infrastructure in the south-west, it is a medium-term proposition and the government continues to fail to address the short-term needs of this community.

In 2004, it was estimated that Australia needed up to 3,000 more GPs. Consider that in conjunction with the report by the Medical Observer last year which indicated that 57 per cent of those GPs surveyed believed that general practice was not a good career choice for students. Having regard to that statistic, I hope the government intends to integrate its policy approaches to medical training and workplace planning. The Campbelltown campus will not produce a fully qualified doctor until 2012. While its contribution over the longer period is likely to be immense, families in my electorate and throughout the south-west of Sydney need the government to do more right now to increase the supply of doctors and affordable and accessible health services within this region.

At the outset, I mentioned that I had some concerns. My concerns do not directly relate to the appropriation of $7 million to the university but rather to the notion that this will mean that local students can automatically access the medical school. I understand that all students will have that access, subject to meeting the relevant education standards. I also understand that prospective students will be subject to a battery of aptitude tests and interviews. My concern is that, due to the decade of neglect of tertiary education under this government, local students may be priced out of the education market. I am concerned that, because of the quite draconian changes to student income support over the last decade, many students and their families are placed under considerable financial pressure when they undertake university studies.

Often parents contact my office to seek some insight into why this government is making it even more difficult for their children to get a university education by subjecting them to an income test to receive the youth allowance. The income test is not based on the income of the student but on the income of the supporting parents. Labor took to the last election its policy aimed at improving income support for students while they study. I note that the Australian Vice-Chancellors Committee, in its submission to the 2005 Commonwealth budget, called on the federal government to improve income support for students but, alas, the government has not acted on that submission.

I am concerned that the belief behind the strong community support for the medical school, which is predicated on the basis that the sons and daughters in greater Western Sydney will have access to it, will not necessarily translate into reality. In my electorate, the 2001 census reported that only six per cent of the people had attained a bachelor degree or higher. Many of those people were among the first in their families to receive a university education, because a university education was not placed beyond their reach. The importance of having a high-quality, local university is not lost on my constituents.

When I was studying, I would have appreciated the opportunity to attend a local school rather than attending lectures in Sydney and making that late-night trek home. To some extent, for people who studied in those days—and particularly for those who lived in Campbelltown—it was half dangerous. It was not dangerous in respect of personal security but, in those days, you did not catch the normal suburban train home to Campbelltown. At that hour of the night, you lined up to catch the Cooma Mail. You could not afford to get too comfortable on that train because, as the member for Macarthur will know, if you missed Campbelltown, you were likely to end up in the Southern Highlands or somewhere between there and Goulburn. The students who follow us will at least not have to brave the ventures of part-time study in Sydney and travel home to Campbelltown.

Recently I spoke to Dr Andrew McDonald, the Director of Paediatrics at Macarthur Health Services. He is right behind the medical school and is looking forward to integrating the local hospital network with the school. He knows the quality of health care professionals in our area and is confident that the medical school, with the support of the region’s hospitals, will produce high-quality doctors. While no-one can ever be certain that locating a medical school in Western Sydney will produce more doctors who live and work in the region, I am heartened by the findings of a number of studies that in fact suggest as much. The evidence suggests that students from rural and regional backgrounds often end up practising in rural or regional areas. It is my understanding that the likelihood of this occurring is heightened when these students have the opportunity to study in or near the areas which they are from. I am confident, with the support of the local hospitals, with the support of high-quality health care professionals such as Dr McDonald and his team, who are currently practising in our area, and with the support of the local community, that once students have the opportunity to experience all that our region has to offer they may make the decision to stay.

I hope it is the case that students from the south-west and from Western Sydney do get the opportunity to study at this medical school, because they already know what a great place the region is and what a great place it is to raise a family. I would be reasonably confident that the majority of graduates who come through that infrastructure would continue to see some purpose in living and practising within our region. I hope the funding in conjunction with the government’s tertiary education policies will not mean that the first generation of people from this region to have reasonable access to a university education will be the last. I hope that the medical school will act as an inspiration for the local students to study hard in the knowledge that they could end up studying at a fantastic institution that is just down the road from their families and their long-established personal support networks.

The University of Western Sydney medical school was suggested by a Labor Premier and later adopted by this government, and as a Labor member I have to say that I am extremely proud to support it. The school has been supported by the Labor state government, contrary to the suggestion from the member for Macquarie, as the state government intends to provide a site adjacent to or within the Liverpool Hospital grounds for the development of support facilities. The University of Western Sydney is a fine institution and I support its aim to develop a distinctive and innovative school that will support and integrate with our local community. I look forward to the extension of the Campbelltown campus of the university and the development of the medical school itself.

Not long ago the university launched a Bachelor of Laws program. I can report that this has proven to be a success, with many graduates who have studied at the campus continuing their association with the region by living and working there. I noted recently on the Whitlam Institute’s online forum on the medical school that a student from the university made the following contribution:

Indeed, it not only makes good strategic sense to establish a medical school in Western Sydney ... For why should people residing in greater Western Sydney have to travel up to one hour and half to attend a medical school, when the best training ground is in their own back yard?

I think that is a reasonable quote. It is important to realise that for south-west Sydney to grow we should have resources like those of the medical school being developed. South-west Sydney has much to offer. It is certainly a ground for significant development not only in industrial production; it is also an area where we are producing many fine students who will be there to service the higher technical industries as they develop.

I did mention earlier that, having had the opportunity to meet with and discuss matters with Dr McDonald, I understand the supportive role that does fall to the medical profession in developing further professionals—in his case paediatricians—to be supplied within that area. We do have very committed medical practitioners residing within the region, and I think their contribution certainly needs to be acknowledged in this debate as well. This is not just a matter of making a contribution of $7 million and establishing the medical school; this is the combination of a lot of hard work by many people—including people in this House, which I will freely acknowledge—who are committed to improving the lot of Western Sydney and to the development of educational facilities and clearly focused on what is necessary if they are to advance and improve the productiveness of greater Western Sydney, which obviously encompasses a number of electorates, including that of the member for Macarthur and my own.

I am proud to be here to support the efforts to have this medical school established. I look forward to seeing, by the year 2012, doctors being produced by this facility. I would very much hope that the statistics and reports that I quoted earlier do come to fruition. I hope that we manage to attract and retain within south-west Sydney many of the practitioners that would otherwise be encouraged to go elsewhere—places other than Liverpool, Campbelltown and their surrounds.

I indicate that, apart from the facilities of the university, there will be a significant integration of training facilities at hospitals such as Campbelltown Hospital and the Liverpool Hospital—and I understand that there will possibly be discussions with Camden Hospital—which will have a significant effect in the placing of students during their practical training. Also, those hospitals will significantly contribute to the educational development of students who attend the medical school on the Campbelltown campus.

Those facilities are already staffed by people who are not only qualified but very dedicated professionals. From my discussions with those people, I understand their level of support for this facility. Their personal support is unquestionable. They will certainly do everything that they can possibly do to facilitate the building of strong links so there will be a teaching hospital capability closely linked through curriculum and medical facilities with the school as it is developed at the Campbelltown campus.

As I indicated, notwithstanding the concerns I have expressed, I support the development of this institution. I look forward to its opening. Moreover, I look forward to the Campbelltown campus being expanded to include the medical school and to seeing local students given the opportunity to participate and aspire to such a wonderful thing as being a doctor servicing people throughout my local area. I look forward to the prospect of having those students retained as doctors servicing our community.

 

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