Press conference - Central Queensland University new Cairns campus

JASON CLARE, MINISTER FOR EDUCATION: Well, this is a big day. It’s a big moment for Cairns. And we’ve got a big shovel for Matt to help to celebrate it. It’s something that’s a long time coming. Nick will remember that we were here about four years ago talking about this. So it means a lot to me to be back here when the shovel is finally going in the ground.
  
It’s getting real. This is now getting real because we’re turning a sod in a moment. Construction starts this year, and this is going to be the place in Cairns where we’re going to train more teachers, more nurses, more engineers, more allied health professionals. And, boy, do we need them. In the years ahead we need more young people to go to TAFE or to uni to get the skills that we need, and this is the sort of place where it’s all going to happen.
  
The talent is everywhere. It’s opportunity that’s not, and it’s education that can change that right here in Cairns and right across the country. And that’s why I’m so glad that Central Queensland University are going to build this campus, that the Federal Government can throw in $77 million to make it happen.
  
I really want to thank the council. It wouldn’t happen without the work of yourself, Amy, and the council to make this real. And this champion bloke behind me who’s been an advocate for this loudly and quietly in my ear for a long, long time. And all of that combined, this teamwork, has got us to this point now, which is going to help to train the next generation of teachers and nurses and engineers right here in Cairns.
  
I might hand over to Matt.
  
MATT SMITH, MEMBER FOR LEICHHARDT: Thank you, Minister Clare, of course, Nick and Amy. This is good. This is really bloody good. If you look around, there’s a cast of thousands – more people than in the Odyssey – because of what this is going to mean to Cairns.
  
During the campaign, one of the things that I knew that we needed, we had to diversify the Cairns economy, and this is a big, big part of that. People are going to come from all over Australia to train here in Cairns. Now, we know that there are shortages in allied health, radiography, radiology. This is going to go a long way to addressing that.
  
So we’re going to build our workforce for the future while activating this southern end of Grafton Street. It is win after win after win. Education really is one of the five key pillars to an economy. And what this means in a broader sense is that this Anthony Albanese Labor government is taking the far north seriously. We're are not tucked out of the way. We’re not the final frontier. We are the gateway to the rest of the world. We are the gateway to professionalism. And you can see that in the investments that are being made such as this, the Cairns western arterial, Cairns water security project, the Cairns expansion down into Mount Peter, the HMAS Cairns expansion and the common use facility. That’s over a billion dollars worth of investment I’ve just been able to list off the top of my head. We know what the far north is capable of, and it’s really great to be part 
of a government that is taking that seriously as well.
  
I want to thank the council for working through this process. This is a really important thing for Cairns to have. I want to thank Nick for having the confidence in our region to build this here. And I want to thank all of the future OTs and nurses and physios, radiographers and radiologists who are going to come to make Cairns home and make sure that our people live their best lives here.  

With that, I’ll hand over to Mayor Eden.
  
AMY EDEN, MAYOR OF CAIRNS: Thank you, Matt. Today is indeed an exciting day for our city. And I would like to start by thanking the Federal Government for partnering with CQU, and Nick and your team for your persistence to see today happen. This is our third sod turning, but it’s an important one because it shows the work that’s happened behind the scenes from many, many people to get here today.  

Excitingly, we’ve had the announcement of the hospital’s $1.1 billion expansion, and what this means is we can make sure that the hospital is filled to capacity with students that are trained here in Cairns in our city. We keep talking, and we keep hearing about our students being lost to down south, and this obviously creates an opportunity to keep them here. And while they’re here they’re getting part-time jobs in our restaurants and in 
our bars and adding to the economy and the livelihood.  

This part of the town has been a little bit sleepy and quiet. Obviously we’ve got the convention centre behind us, celebrating 30 years this year. And they’ll be very happy to have a neighbour such as CQU with students and teachers bustling in and around the facility. So it’s really wonderful.
  
The council officers behind the scene have done a lot of work to see today happen, and I want to really acknowledge that work. And today is, while we’re going to turn the sod - we’ve still got a little bit of negotiation behind the scenes left to do, but it’s a really important milestone, and we can’t wait to see work begin, I believe, towards the end of the year. Thank you, Nick.
  
NICK KLOMP, VICE-CHANCELLOR, CENTRAL QUEENSLAND UNIVERSITY: Hi, everyone. I’m Nick Klomp, the Vice-Chancellor and President of CQ University. Delighted to be here today. This is an important milestone for CQ University. The turning of the sod for the CQ University Cairns campus. And we recognise, as everyone has said, already the importance of a skilled workforce, education, training, the research that produces the best knowledge, that attracts and retains the students and the businesses to Cairns and to Far North Queensland.  

So it really is an exciting day for the university. What we’re going to build and will finish by the end of 2028 is four floors, four storeys of a brand new campus for CQ University and for Cairns. It will be 6,000 square metres supporting up to 6,000 students across 58 different courses. So you can imagine the range of disciplines and, therefore, the professionals that we’ll be producing for Cairns and Far North Queensland.  

We wouldn’t have got here without the recognition and support of the Australian federal government. So let me stop and acknowledge that right from the start. $77.5 million is a lot of money, but they recognise that that’s an investment in the Cairns region. And that’s going to be repaid in spadefuls for the community into the future. So it’s a terrific investment.  

But can I thank Minister Catherine King, Minister for Infrastructure, and Minister Jason Clare, Minister for Education, for the support over these years as we built the story and came to this point where we can finally turn the sod. Can I also recognise the support of the Member for Leichhardt, Matt Smith. He’s a big supporter. Is it fair to say that? Really quite amazing. Right from the start, he saw the value for the community. I’ve really 
appreciated that.  

And, of course, Cairns Regional Council. They are partnering with us, and what a great way to partner- to thinking about what attracts businesses. Well, you’ve got to have the workforce, you’ve got to have the talent, you’ve got to attract students up here and keep them here. And so Cairns Regional Council, well done for their foresight to be partnering with us and to make this real. And we’re really excited about that.  

I’d love to tell you all the details of the specialist labs and the student support facilities and all the things that are going into this campus. I’ll leave you to ask those questions later. But really exciting, and we’re going to see this new campus come out of the ground in the near future, and we’ll have students here within by the end of 2028. So it’s a bit more than two years.  

JOURNALIST: And when will construction begin? Do we have a set date?
  
KLOMP: Yeah, we haven’t got the set date, but we’re finalising it all now. But we’re going to start this year, and I hope it can be even earlier, maybe in the next few months would be great.  

JOURNALIST: And those negotiations still happening with the car park, there’s been some concerns raised that the car park [inaudible].
  
KLOMP: There’s been some really good chats about the car parks. This new campus is going to have 48 off-street car parks. Do you know how many we have now in our current campus? Five. So that’s the first thing. There’s going to be a lot more car parks. But also we’ve recognised that things have changed even in the first few years, so we have negotiated for more off-street parking for the special events, for example, behind us when we need it, but also we’re making sure that we have the end-of-trip facilities so people can have, for example, there will be bike spots and lockers and showers for all the different ways that people are going to be commuting here. So we think we’ve got that pretty covered. And I think Cairns, in terms of car parking, gets a net benefit from all of this.
  
JOURNALIST: We’ve had a lot of incremental announcements about this campus over the years. What is special about today? What more can the general public – they hear of sod turning, but what does that actually mean for the general public?
  
KLOMP: Yes, absolutely. For the general public, they can expect to see it coming out of the ground this year, and they expect to see it completed by the end of ’28. And that’s the exciting bit.  

JOURNALIST: Before the wet season?
  
KLOMP: It would be nice to start, wouldn’t it, before the wet season, which is why I’m saying we’re starting this year. But I’d really like to get an earlier start if I can possibly do that. And that obviously depends on the successful contract and that stuff. So we’re working through those details now. I’m quietly confident. We’ve put a lot of work into this over the last few years, so we’re – we know that we can deliver on all our promises to 
the Cairns community. 
 
JOURNALIST: Do you have an idea when the tender might be awarded for the contract?
  
KLOMP: Very soon, in the next few weeks, we hope. But we’re just finalising those details now.
  
JOURNALIST: How many builders is it down to, the tender?
  
KLOMP: I’m not sure whether I’m allowed to say that. Well done for trying it on, but I don’t think that’s something that I could answer. That would obviously, you know, bias perhaps some of the negotiations.
  
JOURNALIST: Are you able to tell us how many there were in the pool? Like, how many people –
  
KLOMP: No, I wouldn’t be in a position to be able to answer that actually.
  
JOURNALIST: I just have some questions [inaudible] if possible.
  
JOURNALIST: Can I ask one last question? It feels like a challenging space being in tertiary education in a difficult world. How does the university go about making education, tertiary education sexy when someone leaving high school or a mature-age person could take up an apprenticeship or a traineeship and potentially earn more and pay less in education fees?
  
KLOMP: Okay, I think what makes it sexy is not just new knowledge, it is the lifetime benefits that a tertiary education can provide. And it doesn’t mean that everyone is going to leave school and suddenly think that their current job is not appropriate. But the jobs will change. So it isn’t just about school leavers, although clearly, as soon as we offer new courses in physiotherapy the last couple of years in medical imaging this year, we’re inundated by local kids wanting to study here. So we definitely know that we offer that opportunity.
  
But the workforce and the skills required is going to change and change and change in the future. So universities aren’t just there for school leavers or someone who wants to come and study full time for a brand new course. They want upgrades. They want to be upskilling. They want to be able to make sure that they are state of the cutting edge. And a modern university has to provide all that. And that’s what this – we’re excited by this campus. It isn’t just about a lecture hall like perhaps you might have built a campus 20 years ago. No, digitally enhanced spaces and really flexible spaces so you can teach small groups, large groups, distance groups, folks that come here for just residential schools. You’ve got to have that sort of flexibility. That’s what a modern campus is. It’s changed a lot in 10 or 20 years or the 40 years that I’ve been in education. And that’s what’s got to be reflected in this campus. One of the reasons why we’re so excited about this campus is it’s going to be a really modern campus.
  
JOURNALIST: As [inaudible] important not just for Cairns but across Australia for regional areas to get modern facilities and tertiary education?
  
CLARE: I want more kids from the regions and more kids from the bush to get a crack at going to university. And that’s what this is all about. If university is a long way away, you either think it’s not for you and then you go off and do something else, or you might head into a big city and never come back. So bringing university closer to where people live, particularly in the regions, particularly in places like Cairns, matters because it affects the future of the region.
  
Nick was mentioning a minute ago, we met some of the physio students a minute ago, and a couple of them told me the story that they’d always wanted to be a physio, but they didn’t want to go away to do it. And when the course started being offered here in Cairns, they took up the opportunity, and now they’re doing it. So that tells me that we’re doing something right.
  
And you asked a question about how important university is, the different options people have. There’s more people going to uni this year than ever before. And next more even more will and more the year after, more the year after that. It’s going to go up and up and up, particularly in the sort of areas, the sort of courses that are taught right here. Artificial intelligence isn’t going to get rid of teachers or nurses or allied health professionals. We’re going to need more and more of these professionals right here in Cairns and right across the country in the years and the decades ahead. And the smart way to do it is to make sure that we’re building campuses like this where they’re needed.