Andrew Gee (Calare, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I wish to draw the attention of the House to the fact that I recently attended the Bathurst campus of Charles Sturt University's new engineering faculty to hear about how CSU is benefiting from the Australian government's New Colombo Plan through the Engineers without Borders program. The event highlighted CSU's successful and active participation in the New Colombo Plan, which is helping our country and regional students gain invaluable experience working across the Indo-Pacific region. I am delighted that Charles Sturt University has gained funding for approximately 135 students under the 2017 round, with up to 10 engineering students travelling to Cambodia to work in local communities and learn about community development, appropriate technologies and human-centred design.

I also really enjoyed checking out CSU's new engineering headquarters and hearing about the Engineers without Borders Challenge.    As part of their first-year design-based course, all engineering students developed design solutions for the challenge. This year, the Engineers without Borders Challenge partnered with the United Nations High Commission for Refugees in Zambia and a refugee settlement in western Zambia to develop ideas that provide cleaner drinking water and more effective sanitation for the community.

I must make special mention of Emerie Anonical, Georgia Sonter, Aldrex Condino and Andrew Day, who designed a reinforced pit latrine for the refugee camp, complete with handmade mini sandbags, which took many hours of work. It was a very impressive effort from very impressive students. (Time expired)