Minister for Education Jason Clare and Minister Chris Bowen the Member for McMahon holding a press conference to announce a new investment to transform the existing Fairfield Connect Site into a Suburban University Study Hub
00:00Well it's great to be always in the Fairfield Western Sydney University study hub which has
00:06existed since very early last year and I'm very proud of it I'm very pleased Western
00:12Sydney Uni I always thought was missing a vital piece when they weren't in Fairfield and we fixed
00:19that and that's the great credit of Western Sydney Uni to the former Vice-Chancellor Barty Glover
00:24and the current Vice-Chancellor George Williams and today we're making the Fairfield Western
00:29Sydney Uni presence bigger and better with a very important investment which the
00:36Minister will announce in a moment you can't be what you can't see and for too
00:41many people it's been difficult to see a pathway to university from our area we're
00:46fixing that in small steps and today's a small step but a very very good and
00:51important one making this center even more important for our community and I
00:58want to see it grow and grow over the years I know it will and today it's
01:02growing and the services will get better and be available to more people and this
01:06was always going to be a step-by-step process and today is another important
01:10step I'm very proud of it very proud that Western Sydney Uni is here in my hometown and
01:14I'm very proud that we are making it an even better project with the investment from
01:19the Albanese government today over to my mate Joe Sinclair thanks very much Chris
01:25there's there's one reason above all others that this hub is here and Chris is
01:31too modest to mention it but the truth is it's Chris we're both Western Suburbs kids
01:37born and bred Chris grew up here in Fairfield and Smithfield I grew up two
01:42stations down the road in Cabra Manor and as kids we grew up knowing that a lot of
01:49our mates at school either didn't finish school or when they finish school didn't
01:54go on to university because university felt like it was too far away that it
01:59was somewhere else for someone else I you know I know in my own circumstances it
02:05involved catching the train to the city and then a bus out to the University of
02:09New South Wales an hour and a half there an hour and a half back a lot of people
02:13they just thought that that meant that uni was for people who lived closer to that
02:20university you can see the impact of that in the numbers today around about or
02:27almost 50% of young people in their 20s and 30s have a university degree but not
02:33everywhere and not here not where we grew up here it's still around about 25% and we
02:42want to change that I want to change that I know you want to change that I know you
02:47do too George that's what Western Sydney University is about that's what it's
02:51always been about and that's what this hub is about and that's why it's so
02:56appropriate that it's on Smart Street in Fairfield to send a message to every kid
03:04who grows up here in the western suburbs of Sydney that this is for you in the years
03:09ahead more and more jobs are going to require more and more skills and it's
03:15going to be more and more young people finishing high school and then going on
03:19the TAFE or the university the universities of court tells us that it
03:24says that at the moment about 60% of people in the workforce have a certificate or a
03:29diploma or a degree but by 2050 and that's not that far away that that will
03:35need to be 80% now if we're going to hit that mark it means more young people from
03:43our local community breaking down that invisible barrier that stopped a lot of
03:47our mates getting to university and that's why hubs like this are so important
03:53breaking down that invisible barrier when we were kids growing up here there were
03:59lots of Maccas logos lots of KFC logos lots of Westfields logos there weren't a
04:05lot of university logos telling young people in our area that university was
04:10for them that's what this is about the good news today not just here but right
04:16across the country is that the number of young people starting a university degree
04:20is going up and up and up it jumped by 4% last year it's jumping by about another 4% this
04:27year and because of the work that is that the Australian tertiary education
04:31Commission is doing it's expected to jump again next year by about an extra 9,000
04:38students the way the way it looks from the data that we're getting the number of
04:45young people starting a university degree in Australia next year will be at
04:50record levels and that's a good thing but if we're serious about making sure that
04:57more young people get a crack at going to university not just in Mossman or in
05:02Bondi but in Fairfield and in Liverpool and in Blacktown and Mount Druitt and
05:06Bankstown then we need places like this bringing uni closer to where people live
05:14and that's what this is all about the Mount Druitt hub is now open the
05:19Edmonton hub is now open the Macquarie Fields hub is now open the Liverpool hub will
05:24open in a couple of weeks time this Fairfield hub has been open now for more
05:29than a year but what it does now the services it provides for young people here
05:34in Fairfield is much more than ever before because of the three point two
05:38million dollars that we're investing in this hub to provide more kit and more
05:44people to help young people in our local community to get the skills that they
05:49need that we need as a country and the fact that and I'll wrap up here because
05:56I've been talking for a bit the fact that there were a hundred young people here
06:01last night preparing for their physics exam the last exam for the NSW HSC today
06:09fills me with confidence this place is doing something really really special it's
06:16not just helping young people studying at uni that might otherwise have to go a long way to
06:22study to do it closer but it's also telling young people here who are still at school in
06:28Fairfield that uni is for them that's fantastic thanks very much happy to take some questions
06:35minister you've announced extra domestic places today but what about international students the
06:40government softens it softened its cap next year does that mean there's no need for caps on
06:46international students oh the top priority of Australian universities is about educating
06:52Australian students I make no bones about that that's why the allocation of additional
06:58places additional funding for universities to educate more Australians next year is so
07:04important but we also recognize that international education is important as well makes us money as
07:10a country it makes us friends as a country as well the allocation of additional international
07:15student numbers to universities next year is important it helps universities like Western
07:21Sydney University but universities right across the country does that mean there's no need for a cap
07:27no no it does not we do need to make sure that international education is set at sustainable levels and
07:33that's what it's not a cap we're not setting a cap we are setting a national planning level of 295,000
07:41commencements for next year but we do need to make sure that the system is sustainable and that's what the
07:49system we have put in place is all about
07:51I know you didn't want to weigh in on Jamboree's decision to store BYDs in the car park but the opposition is now arguing that certain manufacturers are bringing in thousands of cars to stockpile on your carbon credits under your new vehicle efficiency scheme do you share the same concerns do I share any concerns
08:15concerns equivalent with the opposition about any matters relating to climate change the answer is no because they don't believe in climate action and they will use any excuse and any alibi to avoid proper climate policy in Australia in 2025 and next week they're going to debate whether they believe in climate change again so no now the chief executive BYD has made clear the reason they're importing a lot of cars into Australia is because a lot of Australians want to buy them and if you walk around the streets of Western Sydney you'll see a lot of electric vehicles
08:43you'll see a lot of BYDs you'll see a lot of BYD sharks they're very high selling ute which I welcome now they're managing their stockpile as they see fit they've made clear the reason that they are importing so many at the moment is because of sales not because of the NBES the NBES is driving more models into Australia and that's a good thing now you asked me on Saturday at the press conference to comment on about where they store them my answer to today's press conference is the same as it was on Saturday
09:12But wouldn't it make more sense for these carbon credits to apply after it's been sold
09:17They're not carbon credits let's get our language correct please they're not carbon credits but we've said we will look at point of sale reforms next year but I'm very pleased with the way the NBES is working because the NBES is driving better choices for Australians giving Australians more choices and more vehicles I welcome that the opposition opposed it
09:39the opposition when they were the government tried to do it and failed they had our support and they still managed to fail and now from opposition they're saying they're against what they were for when they're in government it shows how far they've fallen on climate action
09:52and have you had a conversation sorry have you had a conversation with the BYG CEO in person about their potential
Be the first to comment