Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull visited Launceston on Thursday to further formalise the federal government’s commitment to give a much-needed boost to Tasmanian education.
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Mr Turnbull spent the morning at the University of Tasmania where he signed a memorandum of understanding with acting Premier Jeremy Rockliff to deliver funding for the $150 million UTAS campus relocation.
The process of relocating campuses in Launceston and Burnie is set to attract an additional 12,000 students to the region.
The federal government has also committed $7.5 million for the Launceston City Heart project.
UTAS also used the day to launch its new branch, the University College.
The college will be headquartered in Launceston and include new two-year associate degrees.
“We have been talking about the future of Tasmania’s prosperity,” Mr Turnbull said.
“We know that education attainment in Tasmania is less than it should be, we know that wages are lower on average than they should be and the key to addressing that … is to ensure that we’re investing in education and in the cities.
Mr Turnbull said the signing of the MoU was a “historic moment” for the state and the government.
University of Tasmania Vice-Chancellor Peter Rathjen said UTAS would put a suite of innovative programs into place to attract Tasmanians to university.
He said he would expect to see a breaking of the ground at Inveresk by the end of 2017.
“One of the reasons it’s difficult for us to know when we’re going to start the project is that we don’t know how the planning process will come through,” Professor Rathjen said.
“You can expect the planning process to be complete by about the end of the next quarter next year, and then after that we will commence construction as soon as we can.”
Mr Rockliff said the signing was good not only for Launceston, but for Northern Tasmania and the entire state.
“We are embarking on what is a significant reform agenda here in Tasmania when it comes to education,” he said.
“Yes, Tasmania has some challenges when it comes to our educational attainment, our productivity, but the silver bullet to that is through our focus on education.”
Launceston Mayor Albert van Zetten said he would like to see the project start as soon as possible.
“It’s extremely exciting for Launceston to know that we’ve got the federal government and the state government working together to ensure that the city will have a great future,” Alderman van Zetten said.
“I would love [the project] to start yesterday but that’s not possible, we’ve got to work within their timetable and there’s a lot of work that needs to happen.”
Labor Senator Helen Polley said the project was a morale boost for the economy and Labor would ensure this election promise, and others, were kept.
The state government will commit $75 million to the Launceston university campus and $15 million to the Burnie campus.