Edgar Adams' Editorial

The opening of SICO South Pacific’s Berkeley Vale facility and Pure Fishing’s warehouse at Tuggerah last month is good news for the Central Coast (see pages 4-5 in this issue). In this time of down-sizing and closures it sends a message that some businesses are confident in the future. And talking about confidence, the building industry should start and see some of that flow through once the Federal Government’s stimulus package gets off the ground and work starts on the many projects at our primary schools. There is a lot of money about to be spent in our region and that has to be good for us all.

On a similar note, we are talking to some of our region’s real estate agents and property conveyancers and they are all saying how busy they are. This is due to the First Home Buyers Scheme and no doubt lower interest rates too, but it shows that in spite of the doom and gloom which the mass media loves spreading, there are people out there who have a job and therefore the confidence to take the plunge.

It is just unfortunate that most of these first home buyers can’t by a new home on the Central Coast. Most are buying second hand homes. First Home Buyers Schemes in the past have been introduced to get the house building industry moving. The trouble is, here on the Central Coast there is next to no vacant land on which to build a new home.

The Central Coast Campus of the University of Newcastle celebrates its 20th anniversary this year. When the idea of a Central Coast University was first floated, the founders had an idea that it would be autonomous. But commonsense prevailed and it became part of Newcastle.

Over the years this has proved to be an excellent arrangement, with all of the resources of the University of Newcastle available to students seeking a degree from a very highly regarded and respected institution.Unfortunately, it now appears that there is a small but vocal group of people who are pushing for the Ourimbah Campus to become autonomous or link in with some other Sydney or regional university. Undoubtedly these attention-grabbers have little idea of the benefits that being associated with Newcastle brings.

It is interesting to see that the Federal Government’s model for the future of universities could be said to be based on that of the University of Newcastle and the Central Coast Campus. Our link to Newcastle opens enormous opportunities for Central Coast students. If there is any criticism it may be that Newcastle doesn’t promote those opportunities more widely in the region.
It’s time we got over our inferiority complex and took a mature attitude to learning.

Applications for directors of the new Regional Development Australia - Central Coast organisation (see story page 12), which replaces Business Central Coast (BCC) and the Central Coast Area Consultative Committee (CCACC), closed at the end of March. Quick background! BCC has been around for fifteen years. It did absolutely nothing. Sorry - that's not quite reight, it wasted millions of dollars but was good for boosting egos. The CCACC, a Federal outfit, did nothing much either but wasted less money.

If this new organisation is to have any credibility at all, those who are appointed will need to have the interests of the Central Coast (not Gosford, not Wyong) at heart, have some intellectual capability, and be visionary. Certainly not attention-seekers or petty politicians. And that goes, in particular, for whoever is appointed Chairperson.

Edgar Adams
Editor

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