Mr SLIPPER(4.46 p.m.) —Today I am very pleased to rise in the chamber to talk about the wonderful progress that has been achieved over the last couple of years towards the establishment of the Sunshine Coast University College, which was recently opened by the Governor of Queensland, Her Excellency Mrs Leneen Forde AC. I was honoured to be present at the opening of stage 1 of the university campus as the representative for the federal Minister for Employment, Education, Training and Youth Affairs, Senator Vanstone. My parliamentary colleague, the honourable member for Fairfax (Mr Somlyay), was also present and we both have the honour of being the parliamentary representatives for the Sunshine Coast community.

The honourable member for Fairfax, like me, has been a strong supporter of the Sunshine Coast University College. We know that this is a very important institution and a very important base for the continued development of the region. It really ought to be highlighted that the opening of the Sunshine Coast University College is probably the last opening of a freestanding greenfield university that we can expect to see for a generation.

It is of course currently referred to as the Sunshine Coast University College. I hope that it is possible to allow the university to reflect its status as an independent institution. It ought to be able to drop the term `college', which tends to work against its continued growth and development.

Other university colleges in this country are colleges of established universities whereas the Sunshine Coast University College is a freestanding institution with its own act of the Queensland Parliament. The sooner the Sunshine Coast University College is able to drop the `college' tag the better so that it will be able to grow, prosper and continue to perform a very important role of providing tertiary education in the Sunshine Coast area. The university will be a focal point for the region as a whole. It will serve as a tremendous asset for the Sunshine Coast community and indeed for employment growth.

The opening of stage 1 by Her Excellency the Governor represented a very great moment for the Sunshine Coast. I remember over 10 years ago that a committee was formed on the Sunshine Coast to push for a tertiary institution in our area. Many people at the time said that Mrs Alison Kerr-Jones, one of the visionaries behind the university, would not be able to achieve what ultimately now exists in bricks and mortar. The critics were proved wrong. The Sunshine Coast community worked together as a region and we now have a freestanding greenfield university which has been able to attract staff of very great calibre and quality from right around the world.

I was impressed to see a very large cross-section of the Sunshine Coast community at the official opening. Professor Paul Thomas, the founding vice-chancellor of the university, has done a wonderful job of building up this institution from scratch. As I go around the various chambers of commerce and other community groups in my electorate, I find Paul Thomas there. He never misses an opportunity to promote the Sunshine Coast University College and to encourage its continued expansion.

In a competitive society universities must go out and market themselves. No longer can they expect that automatically they will receive funding and that as a matter of course everything will fall into their laps. Paul Thomas has been innovative and is a person to whom the Sunshine Coast owes a very great debt. If it had not been for Paul Thomas, the university would not have got off to the excellent start that it has this year.

It will have its own degrees and full-time staff who have taught and researched at other universities. Of course, the university will have a policy and financial commitment to support both teaching and research—and that is vital if a university is going to be successful. The university will also have a clear intention to be both regionally and internationally significant.

It was just one of those events where I, as a Sunshine Coast representative, was able to take great pride in what we have been able to achieve as an area. The Sunshine Coast is one of the fastest growing parts of Australia and projected continued growth indicates that this will go on into the future. A strong university presence is important, vital and necessary—and now we have it. It is essential that government continues to support the growth of the Sunshine Coast University College.

I understand that demand for places at the university college has been very strong, that most of the students are local and that many of them put down the Sunshine Coast University College as their first choice of a tertiary institution to attend. The fact that this has happened is testimony to the very strong backing the Sunshine Coast University College enjoys right throughout the region.

Obviously the presence of our own university will demonstrate the benefits to local people of having a university education. The new Howard government sees regional universities and their role as being very important.

It must also be recognised that all universities had modest beginnings. Most have subsequently grown into major institutions of national significance and excellence with substantial records of achievement. My view is that, without a doubt, the Sunshine Coast University College will take its place among the best of Australia's universities in the next century as an independent institution. It has obviously had the opportunity to draw on the experiences of others. I believe it will build on those experiences, and it will certainly have a focus on the future.

I must say that I am genuinely impressed with the quality of the academic staff the university has been able to attract. I am indebted to the Chancellor, Mr Justice Fitzgerald, for the information he provided in his address at the opening of the university. He said that there were 1,700 applicants from around the world for the first 20 or so posi tions advertised. He also mentioned that the six latest staff appointments to the arts faculty all came from established universities, including universities located in Brisbane, Sydney, Canberra and Melbourne.

It is obvious that this institution has an important role to play in the future of the Sunshine Coast. I know that the government has inherited an $8 billion black hole as a result of mismanagement by the former Labor government. I can see the honourable member for Reid (Mr Laurie Ferguson) is nodding in agreement at the fact that we have to plug the $8 billion black hole that his colleagues left for us. We intend to do so. I hope that in doing so it will be possible to make sure that we have in place policies which will guarantee the continued growth of the Sunshine Coast University College. The college's opening this year was much overdue, but the college offers great opportunities to people on the Sunshine Coast and throughout the state.

The government must recognise—and I believe it has—that Queensland, historically, has been disadvantaged regarding university places. As people move from the rust belt areas of southern Australia to places like the Sunshine Coast, it is important that university places go with them. It is quite unfair that thousands of students in Queensland are simply unable to obtain a place in a tertiary institution whereas, in southern states, many of the universities are struggling to fill their existing quotas.

I am confident that the minister, when making her contribution to plug Beazley's black hole, will ensure that Queensland is not further disadvantaged. We were ignored for many of the 13 years of Labor government and it is about time that that historic inequity was addressed. I am confident that this will indeed occur.

As we move into the next century, the Sunshine Coast University College will be one of Australia's major tertiary institutions. The staff is of very high quality. The students are diverse and able. They come from, principally, the Sunshine Coast and also other parts of the state and nation. I wish this important institution well.