Senator BOSWELL (11:28 PM) —I wish to raise an issue tonight that concerns Mr Cameron Thompson, the member for Blair, and me, and that is the University of Queensland Gatton College Campus. I rise to speak about that institution which, since its inception in 1897, has been at the forefront of the creation of Queensland's wealth and prosperity, has been the foundation of Queensland's agricultural industry and the source of agricultural education for many Queenslanders, other Australians and overseas agricultural graduates and that still has the same important role to play into the next century.

This vital institution—now the Gatton College Campus of the University of Queensland—was amalgamated with the University of Queensland in 1991 and as a consequence finds itself without a certain future. There have been seven University of Queensland reviews since the amalgamation and reallocation of the Faculty of Natural Resources, Agriculture and Veterinary Science to the Gatton Campus. They have all made favourable recommendations for the consolidation of the agriculture faculty at the Gatton Campus. Despite this and promises of new research facilities and yearly infrastructure investment, in recent years Gatton has been losing facilities, students and funding.

The time has come for action, not reviews. The University of Queensland, as the governing body of the Gatton Campus, must after eight years give Gatton a firm financial assurance that it has a guaranteed future as a leading agricultural training and learning facility. Gatton College has provided training from paddock to plate, but since amalgamation in 1991 has gone from a peak of 3,300 students down to a projected 2,150 students by the year 2000. A decision in 1997 that relocated part of the Department of Business Economics and Law and the Hospitality School from Gatton to the new Ipswich Campus and to South Bank TAFE has taken away 800 students and 20 teaching and support staff.

The establishment of the Ipswich Campus of the University of Queensland has had its effect on Gatton Campus. In 1996 there was an increased allocation of 425 undergraduate places, a further 340 in 1997 and 185 in 1998 to Queensland university. None of these went to Gatton—750 went to Ipswich, of which only 470 are presently being used. At the same time 800 went from Gatton with a further 689 to go next year. This is a huge loss for a campus and for a rural community, and is occurring in a situation where Ipswich could not take up its allocation. We were told at the estimates hearings last week that this reflected student demand—but it seems hard on Gatton when they are not given the infrastructure development or the courses to keep up their numbers.

An agricultural college in the lush agricultural area of the Lockyer Valley has been a major component of the Gatton region since 1897. Its magnificent surrounds provide a perfect setting for the teaching of agriculture. Gatton College generates 1,900 jobs and is the largest single employer in the region, providing a turnover in the region of $22 million a year. There has been a loss of farming facilities on campus and an economic loss to all the supporting businesses that have developed to serve the college in the area. A university in a regional centre is a great boost to an area and the Gatton region and the agricultural college have had a mutually supporting partnership over the past 102 years.

Leaving the Gatton Campus hanging, as Queensland University has over eight years of review, also affects the eight current industry research projects at Gatton College totalling $6.55 million with two other projects under consideration. This includes a $1.9 million wild flower genetic development project supported financially by the three local councils through the Australian waste water project to encourage Australian farmers to enter the $22 billion global cut wild flower industry. For further success the college must continue to have investment in essential infrastructure and to know it has a clear and unambiguous future. Queensland needs a premier agricultural tertiary institution. Agricultural research and education are still vitally needed in a predominantly resource led state like Queensland.

At a Senate estimates hearing last week the federal department could not give any assurances about Gatton. They told me at the estimates hearing that:

. . . broadly, in our preliminary discussions with the University of Queensland, they have indicated an intention that there will be some long term activity at Gatton. They have not decided the exact shape of that.

The University of Queensland has an annual budget of around $500 million a year. A vast proportion of this comes from federal funding. Out of this half a billion dollars, Gatton College needs around $10 million to upgrade its facilities and run an integrated agricultural faculty at its campus. In today's Courier Mail , John Hay, the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Queensland, said:

My view is that the fundamental difference between Queensland in the past and Queensland in the future will be a shift from resources and tourist based activities to knowledge based activities.

He went on to say:

Traditional industries such as mining and agriculture will employ few people in the years ahead—and they will have a far greater dependence on adding value which thrived from knowledge based personnel.

Current statistics show increased employment growth in agriculture, and I am sure any agriculturalists can tell the Vice-Chancellor that for value adding we need clever and smart farmers and continued and cutting edge research into agriculture, contributions which have always been made by Gatton College.

Universities in recent years have been given significant autonomy over their actions. University educational profiles are the Commonwealth government's major mechanism for accountability. There is also a large taxpayer contribution to the universities, yet according to the department at the Senate estimates last week there are no allocations for any specific funds to the Gatton Campus in their long-term strategic plan for implementing the university's own recommendation to relocate a substantial agricultural faculty at Gatton.

Queensland agriculture will not accept this sort of downgrading of input into research and training in the industry. Similarly, Queenslanders will not accept a Gatton College that only offers skills training courses without an academic component. For the past 20 years Gatton has offered degree courses. Agriculture is and remains a major export earner for Queensland despite the state's future prospects in other areas, as noted by the Vice-Chancellor.

A student place at a tertiary institution is a valuable asset to a university, worth around $10,000 a student. When the University of Queensland removes student numbers from the Gatton Campus it creates a huge loss to the Gatton area and a huge loss to the agricultural future of the state. The university has been given autonomy with its funding; surely this involves a responsibility too. Queenslanders are concerned where their taxpayer funded $500 million to university education goes. I am sure I speak for them when I say this must involve a specific commitment of funding for education and research into Queensland agriculture, especially when the state's leading agricultural institution is taken over by the state's largest and most diverse university. Maybe if the University of Queensland cannot find this commitment to the future of agriculture they should pass it on to a university that can. Queensland's priority must be that it has a top class agricultural teaching and research institution. Gatton College has provided this over the past 102 years and must continue to be allowed to do this by its new master, the University of Queensland. It is time for action to follow their reviews and for immediate financial commitment to the university and a strong agricultural college at Gatton.