Josh Burns (Macnamara, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to raise serious concerns about Swinburne University. After multiple scandals in the news about the conduct of university leadership, Swinburne have now decided to kick out a community run childcare centre with no regard for the interests of the local community and the public that they are meant to support.

Swinburne was gifted public land in Windsor by the Victorian state government to support TAFE training and community education. They have even used federal grants to build Windsor Community Children's Centre, a centre that has trained generations of early childhood educators. They now refer to the site as an investment property. The land was transferred to Swinburne at no cost on the explicit understanding that it would remain in educational use, not as a commercial asset. After multiple assurances from Swinburne in March that they would be willing to sell for below market value, they are now seeking a commercial windfall by evicting a community service that they helped create. What do Swinburne have to hide?

If a university's first instinct is to extract maximum commercial value at the expense of families, workforce development and community trust, then something is fundamentally wrong. Eighty families face displacement from an essential learning service and a longstanding student training pipeline built by Swinburne itself. Stonnington council, in partnership with our government, has formally offered $8.4 million for this site. Swinburne should accept that offer and allow the Windsor Community Children's Centre to remain exactly where it should be.