Dai Le (Fowler, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I want to speak to two matters that go to the heart of opportunity and fairness in my community of Fowler, and to the growing gap between the promises this government makes to Western Sydney and the reality it delivers. I recently had the pleasure of attending the opening of the University of Wollongong's new campus at Liverpool Civic Place.

Liverpool is already home to UOW's fastest-growing student cohort, with a 134 per cent increase in completed applications now compared to this time last year. These are young people who are able to pursue their education and build their futures close to where they live. I welcome the university's strong commitment to communities like mine in south-western Sydney. For many young people in Fowler, access to world-class education, just a train or a bus ride away, is about far more than lectures, exams or degrees. It represents opportunity. It reflects the hopes of families, many of whom came to Australia, like my own late mother, because they believed in the promise of education as a pathway to a better life.

That promise only holds true if it is equitable and accessible to everyone, regardless of postcode, which is why the recent decision by the government to withdraw funding for the promised Western Sydney expansion of the Special Broadcasting Service is quite disappointing. This was meant to be a hub for jobs, skills and opportunities—a pipeline from education into meaningful employment. And now that pathway has been taken away. What is the value of investing in education if this government fails to support the jobs and industries that those students are training to enter? We are told this decision was made in the context of the current fiscal environment, but, once again, it is communities in Western Sydney that are asked to bear the cost.

SBS plays a critical role in telling stories of multicultural Australia, and there is no more multicultural region in this country than the communities I represent. The jobs this expansion will have created across the media, communications and creative industries are exactly the roles that students at the University of Wollongong, Liverpool are preparing for right now. Yet, instead of strengthening those pathways, the government has cut them off.

This is not an isolated case. We have seen it before with the failure to deliver a proper Western Sydney metro link to the new Western Sydney airport, leaving communities disconnected from the very jobs and opportunities that infrastructure was meant to unlock. The University of Wollongong has shown belief in Liverpool and in Western Sydney communities. It is a shame that this government has not done the same thing.