Budget’s $12.5m boost for world-class Central Coast Medical School and Research Institute

THE Turnbull government will commit $12.5 million more to the Central Coast Medical School and Research Institute in Gosford to attract world-class academics and medical professionals when it opens in three years.

THE Turnbull government will commit $12.5 million more to the Central Coast Medical School and Medical Research Institute in Gosford so it can attract world-class academics and medical professionals when it opens in three years.

Tuesday’s budget will contain new funding which takes the federal government’s share of money for the University of Newcastle project to $45m.

“The funding commitment in the Budget will ensure the medical school isn’t just a building, but a facility that attracts and retains world class clinicians, educators and public health leaders on the Central Coast from the very first day that students start arriving for classes in 2020,” Treasurer Scott Morrison told The Daily Telegraph.

The gvernment will commit $12.5m more to the Central Coast Medical School and Medical Research Institute in Gosford

Robertson MP Lucy Wicks, who has campaigned for the additional money, said the money will help turn Gosford into a hub of health research and education.

“Some of the world’s best universities, including the University of Cambridge and New York University, are also in line to become delivery partners in this project,” she said.

Education Minister Simon Birmingham pledged $32.5m for the school last May, in the lead-up to the federal election.

The state government and the university will provide $20m each for the project, which is at the redeveloped Gosford Hospital.

It is expected the new research institute and school will create 765 new jobs for the area, and train more medical students for regional areas which have been suffering an acute shortage of specialists and GPs.

The extra money will be used for the transition to the school’s opening, while ongoing employment costs are to be paid for by the university.