University wishlist
LAST week the Prime Minister swung through Queensland, highlighting the importance of regional Australia to the national economy, as well as promoting the Coalition’s pledge to find 450,000 new jobs in the regions over the next five years.
As the vice-chancellor of Australia’s largest regional university, and Queensland’s only dual-sector university (we also deliver TAFE in Central Queensland), the Prime Minister will get no argument from me on the importance of regional communities and the contribution we make to national wealth.
In many respects, growing regional jobs is the flip side of Cquniversity’s mission, which is to provide world-class education, research and training that responds to local priorities and is delivered locally.
In 2021 Cquniversity was ranked second in Australia for fulltime employment rates in the national Graduate Outcomes Survey, so I know we are on track there.
But 450,000 new regional jobs is an ambitious target and unless there is commensurate investment in regional education and training capacity, then there is a real risk that infrastructure and equipment will lie idle and many growth opportunities will be missed.
Ideally, we need to be preparing a skilled regional workforce ahead of time, and depending on the trades or discipline, we might be talking a minimum of two years, usually three or four, but possibly up to six or seven.
So, with no time to waste, I have outlined here the new facilities that are most urgently needed at Cquniversity, that will help us to do our part in training 450,000 new skilled workers in our regions.
At the very top of the list is our top priority; a new campus in Cairns to support greater opportunities for students, and to help diversify and grow the FNQ economy. This is a $50m investment. In a debate between election candidates in Cairns last week, the need to build a new Cquniversity campus in the Cairns CBD was the only subject they all agreed upon. The project is shovel-ready and is the number one recovery project for the Cairns Regional Council, as well as enjoying the strong support of the Cairns Chamber of Commerce, Advance Cairns, Cairns Convention Centre, Tourism Tropical North Queensland, and the community at large.
It is a genuinely transformational project for the region.
There is also an urgent need to complete the set up of Cquniversity’s Coastal Marine Ecosystems Research Centre (CMERC) — a $15m investment. Located in Gladstone, CMERC is the only research facility in CQ focusing on the southern part of the Great Barrier Reef.
It sits at the confluence of a multi-billion dollar blue economy, globally significant heavy export industries, and the priceless Great Barrier Reef.
Cquniversity opened CMERC in 2019 with $6.6m of our own money, to help ensure the longterm sustainability of all these.
This week it was announced that our university was now ranked 10th in the world for research focusing on protecting and restoring life below water; one of the 17 United Nations’ sustainable development goals.
This achievement is testament to the amazing work that is being done at CMERC and reinforces how important it is to finish setting up this centre.
Of course mining and resources will also be an important part of regional Queensland’s future for many years to come, but that’s not to say we shouldn’t always be looking to the future, to the adoption of new technologies like electric haulage vehicles, and new industries like renewable energy and hydrogen. Reflecting this, establishing an electric vehicle and energy training centre in Mackay ($9m) and a hydrogen training centre in Gladstone ($16.7m), are both transformational projects that feature high on our list of priorities.
With Agforce Queensland Farmers Ltd, we are looking to establish a research and Agtech hub on Belmont Station just north of Rockhampton ($6m), to focus on tropical (Northern Australia) livestock production. We are also looking to establish a rural and remote health training academy in Rockhampton and Emerald ($9.6m), to better support clinical placement and training in rural and remote areas.
From this list, I am pleased to say that Labor has publicly committed funding to the Cquniversity Cairns campus, CMERC and Mackay electric vehicles projects, and I continue to have very positive discussions with the Coalition. However, with only a short time remaining in the election campaign, I call on both parties to consider closely the education and training needs of regional communities and the importance of this to delivering new jobs in our regions and to underpinning economic recovery.
PROFESSOR NICK KLOMP, Cquniversity vice-chancellor and president.