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.
To break this down, he claims:
A university sits at the heart of pretty much every successful economic regional plan you care to nominate anywhere in the world. Not a university that keeps itself separate from the rest of the community and walks around in gowns and looks down on everybody. Not a university that only looks at things that are [only] remotely interesting to anyone.
It's a university that's very practical and understands the opportunities, and is raising up a workforce and a generation of people that can transform the region in which they're living.
And when I look at our regional universities, I get really excited. I get excited about the University of Newcastle, the University of Western Sydney, the University of Wollongong, Griffith ,Deakin and so on, because what I find in those universities, 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.
That the PM seems to have decided to have no prepared remarks, and has thus delivered tortured and barely meaningful language, might be his way of trying to be 'authentic' on this occassion. Instead it comes across as someone not really caring at all about the event. The thrust of the overall remarks is that the new facility exists because the people of the Central Coast had the wisdom to elect a Liberal member.
But the comments about universities are quite telling. Firstly the PM draws this distinction between practical, locally connected universities and some other kind of university which keeps itself separate from the rest of the community. In the context, he is pretty much describing the G8 universities - Australia's equivalent to the UK's sandstone universities (mostly). The PM himself is a graduate of one of these (UNSW). I wonder at his University experience - I seriously doubt any academics walked around in gowns in his days as a student, let alone today.
And it is this overreach on the question of gowns that makes the rest of the blather about these universities (looking down on everybody and only looking at things that are only remotely interesting) just appear incongruous.
We are left asking the question of whether the PM really believes these 'other' universities really exist, or whether it is a rhetorical device used to ensure that those who dislike all universities don't dislike this particular funding opportunity.
And there are people who seem to 'dislike all universities.' These are the people wo talk of 'the march of the left through our institutions' and see universities as breading grounds of left-wing ideologies and socialist activists.
I am personally a great fan of regional universities, for a host of reasons. I would prefer to see a shift in the undergraduate population away from the G8 to the regional. But my reasoning is demographic, it is one way of taking some population out of the capital cities, and maybe encouraging more people to live permanently outside these cities. Or, in the case of city fringe universities like Western Sydney University, to create economic activity away from the historic city centre.
TIf the PM is genuine in the last part of his remarks, that he has some kind of genuine aspiration for universities to be part of the community in which they sit, what policy framework can he point to that is trying to develop this connection? A grant made to a University that sits in a Labor held electorate to open a facility in a nearby marginal coalition held electorate looks more like pork than policy.
Life is what happens while you are busy making other plans JWL
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