That the Senate—

(a) notes:

(i) the decision by the University of Sydney to close its nursing faculty and its Orange campus,

(ii) that there is currently a shortage of nurses in New South Wales and Australia-wide,

(iii) that in the Bachelor of Nursing (Indigenous Australian Health), which makes an invaluable contribution to improving Indigenous health, outcomes have not been picked up by another university and may be lost as a result of this closure, and

(iv) that there is no indication that the jobs lost through this closure at the University of Sydney will be picked up by other universities; and

(b) urges the Government to:

(i) reverse its decision to allow the University of Sydney to close the nursing faculty and sever ties with the Orange campus,

(ii) ensure that the Bachelor of Nursing (Indigenous Australian Health) continued to be available to public nursing students, and

(iii) address the shortage of nurses by significantly increasing direct public funding to public universities to:

(a) enable an expansion of the number of nursing places available, and

(b) offer more opportunities for professional development for the existing nursing workforce.