Andrew Southcott (Boothby, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

Next month, I will join the staff, students and alumni of Flinders University to celebrate their 50th anniversary with the launch of their new student hub and plaza. Matthew Flinders once wrote to a friend that he was not content to 'rest unnoticed in the middle order of mankind'. I think it is fair to say that his namesake institution lives up to the spirit of that sentiment.

Flinders University is easily one of the most iconic locations in my electorate and I have had a lot to do with the university over the last 20 years. I am even a former student, having studied economics there. These days, Flinders University has a reputation as one of Australia's leading universities and ranks in the top two per cent of the world's universities. It continues to go from strength to strength.

It is the fastest growing university in South Australia and is currently engaged in the largest infrastructure investment in its history, with Flinders at Tonsley, its new expansion at Tonsley Park, which houses more than 150 staff and 2,000 students, and acts as a hub for collaboration between researchers, students and business. It is a university which seeks to drive research that makes a difference, with a philosophy summed up by the pithy phrase, 'Once you've unboiled an egg, the sky's the limit.' So happy 50th, Flinders University. I cannot wait to see the strides that you have made once you hit your 60th.

See this speech in context