Knee replacements and 3D printers were among the projects federal opposition assistant treasurer Andrew Leigh cast an eye over during a visit to the University of Wollongong’s Innovation Campus on Wednesday.
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Mr Leigh described the university’s iAccelerate initiative as a great example of looking to the future and the delivery of new-age jobs – the focus of opposition leader Bill Shorten’s federal budget reply last week. ‘‘Bill emphasised coding, innovation, science, technology, engineering and maths as being keys to job creation in the future and iAccelerate’s a facility that’s doing much of that,’’ Mr Leigh said.
‘‘Facilities like this one are really pivotal to maintaining prosperity for Australia over the decades to come.
‘‘The government didn’t look enough towards the future in the budget – it was focused on score-settling in the past and not investing in the future.’’
Start-ups were given the opportunity to pitch their innovative projects, with Mr Leigh hearing about potential knee replacements, producing 3D printers and creating stand-up tables for ergonomic work on the go. Mr Leigh was accompanied by Cunningham MP, and opposition spokeswoman for vocational education, Sharon Bird, and Member for Throsby Stephen Jones. Ms Bird said the federal budget was ‘‘silent on jobs’’.
‘‘We’ve got to get good at keeping kids engaged through schooling then they can feed into the university and have these sorts of opportunities,’’ she said.
‘‘A facility like this ... says you don’t have to leave the region if you’ve got a great idea, you can come here and develop it.’’ Meanwhile, Mr Leigh delivered the 2015 economic and social policy public lecture at UOW.