Gavin Pearce (Braddon, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Last week I had the pleasure of opening the Study Centre Circular Head in Smithton. This facility signals a new era for north-west Tasmania, which has historically lacked accessibility to education past high school. I've said time and time again that education is everything, and education shouldn't be reserved for just the big cities. Whether you're seven or 70, or anywhere in between, everyone should have the opportunity to connect with education at any time that's right for them. That's why this project is so important. Over the last two years I've had the privilege of opening both the Study Hub West Coast at Zeehan and now the Study Centre Circular Head in Smithton. Both were funded through the federal government's Regional Study Hubs program. These facilities will be life-changing for those who live in our bush. They demonstrate both my commitment and the federal government's commitment to improving educational opportunities in rural and remote areas.

Congratulations to the study hub team at West Coast and in Smithton; to Phil Vickers, to Nicky Bolt, to Mayor Shane Pitt, and everyone involved. I firmly believe that the work these people have done, the courses they've developed and refined, will become the gold standard across regional and remote Australia when it comes to education.