Journalist:  The Hunter region has a long and proud industrial history. I think it’s fair to say that many people would have some form of connection to someone who worked at BHP or any other energy and resources sector in our region. A dad, an uncle, a neighbour, cousin, brother. Who knows what.

Today an exciting new chapter begins with the Assistant Minister for Science, Karen Andrews, in town to officially launch what is actually a double or a dual milestone for our region and that is the official opening of a new research wing at the Newcastle Institute for Energy and Resources and the launch of the Industrial Transformation Research Hub for advanced technologies for Australian iron ore.

Assistant Minister Karen Andrews, welcome to 1233, I would love you to help me work out, in simple language, what is an Industrial Transformation Research Hub for advanced technologies for Australian iron ore?

Karen Andrews: Well that’s a very good question and good morning, it’s a pleasure to be here. Look it sounds very complex but I think it’s something that’s very simple. What these two centres are going to do is to make sure the spot light is back on Newcastle. We are making sure that Newcastle is continuing to lead the world in its research, its collaboration with industry and making sure that their students, while studying at the University of Newcastle, have job ready skills.

Journalist:  The Director of the Newcastle Institute for Energy and Resources is in the studio with us this morning. Dr Alan Broadfoot, welcome. Why is this a big deal for you?

Dr Broadfoot: For me it’s about the Hunter Region. The history is about 100 years ago we had the steel works come to Newcastle, that was the start of our industrial age and becoming an industrial city.  I think it’s ironic that 100 years later we are securing the ARC research hub for transformation of iron ore. What this project is about and what the new agenda for government is, is to look at our future, to future proof our industries, so we don’t just look at mass producing of products but give some competitive advantages that will keep us in jobs for the long term.

Journalist:  So what might that look like? What have you seen perhaps in other parts of the world, even though this is supposed to be a leading innovation centre, what might this look like, that’s different to the iron ore based industrial activity that we’ve seen in the past?

Dr Alan Broadfoot: It’s about the complete product, it’s about maximizing the benefit of the ore that we mine. At the moment we’re predominantly mining it and shipping it, what can we do to unleash the value in that ore? As we face the challenges of the modern era, we’re looking at actually doing more. I think the burden of leadership is that there’s nothing to copy. What we want to do is have a clean sheet and work with industry and the end user and untap wealth of iron ore.

Journalist:  So a considerable amount of money has been spent on these new initiatives, $30 million of the Government’s money, $2 million of NSW government money. This is a big challenge for us isn’t it Karen Andrews, that we can’t just rely on digging it up and shipping it out anymore.

Karen Andrews: Exactly, and I think that’s been a very justified criticism for many years. So I think the value out of what we’re talking about today is we’re talking about an entire process and we’re talking about what is being done at the mine to ensure that it meets the needs of industry. So it’s a complete process that we’re looking at, but a lot of the research that’s being done is very much based on what industry needs. So it’s been driven by industry and effectively the university is the problem solver and I think that’s a great way for us to transition into the future.

Journalist:  350 jobs is that now or in the future Alan Broadfoot?

Dr Alan Broadfoot: Well the challenge of the new infrastructure is to watch it being built, but what we did was we actually started the research program from day one so there is already the coexistence of research and infrastructure happening at the moment. We’ve got about 230 staff so what this new wing will allow us to do is bring in more researchers in a multidiscipline way and it’s all about balance. Ultimately when you do research it’s not just purely about the economic development it’s also making sure that we’ve got the social and the environmental sustainability.

So the two areas that we’ll be looking at with the new wing is housing these new initiatives in iron ore but also other energies. We’ve just secured a project for India for Bio Mass gasification for electrification of rural India. So we are a world leader and the other part of it is we’re setting up an international centre for balanced land use which is in conjunction with primary industries.

Journalist:  Run that by me again, it’s an international centre for?

Dr Alan Broadfoot: ..balanced land use.

Journalist:  Balanced land use. Ok, am I thinking conflicting use of land is that what you’re talking about, getting some balance around that?

Dr Alan Broadfoot: Well it’s certainly not crop rotation; it’s about getting that tension between economic imperatives, social imperatives and environmental imperatives and trying to get the balance between them. Because they’re all important, otherwise we wouldn’t have that tension between them. So not only are we looking at the new technologies for industrialization and electrification, but we’re also adding new researchers to make sure we get the balance right.

Journalist:  Can this really, do you think Karen Andrews, keep Newcastle at the forefront? I mean as Alan opened up saying our industrial heart was what put us on the map as a region. We need to stay ahead of the curve now, can this sort of money spent on these kinds of research hubs really, of course Alan will say that it does, but can it really?

Karen Andrews: I would definitely say yes and I think what’s interesting is I recently visited Singapore and I spoke to A*STAR which is pretty much their leading research organization, and the model that they use is very similar to what the University of Newcastle is using and I think that this makes sure that the University of Newcastle is certainly leading Australia in international collaboration, certainly, but making sure that we are engaging in industry led research, which is so important for us. So I actually see that this will put Newcastle definitely back in the spotlight and I think quite frankly that this will be Australia leading.

Journalist:  It’s great to know that we’ve got the Assistant Minister here for this. Alan Broadfoot you’ve led a lot of your career in industry, in research, in the university, is this a big day?

Dr Alan Broadfoot: Oh yes, it’s one of those, in some ways, it is the completion of building but it’s the start of the future. I mean it’s probably a bit late to say we’re open for business because we’ve been operating on site for four years but what we’ve done is we’re now at full capacity and we’ve got a working model. The thing is, we do have the $30 million contribution and the $2 million from the State but we’ve already secured $100 million worth of research contracts and 60 per cent of that was funded by industry so we are well and truly open for business.

Karen Andrews: How good is that!

Journalist:  That is seriously good because unless we get industry there saying we’re confident enough in what you’re doing to spend our money with you, then we’ll be continually relying on the public purse.

It’s four away from nine, I’m joined in the studio this morning by the Assistant Minister for Science Karen Andrews and Dr Alan Broadfoot he’s the Director for Newcastle Institute for Energy and Resources.

I have to ask you, Karen Andrews, we can’t have future innovation without having a good gender balance in this area of engineering and industrial research. What are you doing about that?

Karen Andrews: Very good question. I’m an engineer myself and it was many years ago that I graduated, but there was only myself and another girl in my class. Sadly I think not a lot has changed in all those years.

Now from a personal point of view, I don’t understand why a lot of girls aren’t engaged in science and maths subjects at school, but that aside, we have to make sure that this changes. One of the things that the Government will be looking at is opportunities to engage with young students, but particularly girls in the year 5 to year 8 group because they’re the ones that we know if we don’t have them engaged at that stage, we don’t have them into the future. So we’re certainly looking to see what we can do.

Journalist:  Great to hear. Alan just quickly what’s the gender balance like at Newcastle Institute for Energy and Resources?

Dr Alan Broadfoot: It’s actually varying. We’ve seen a new influx of research focused on chemical engineering and a significant amount of researchers are female. But there are still challenges there. I still think it goes back to the same challenges we have with science and mathematics, it’s a more complex one, that we’re going to be solving more.

Journalist:  Well good luck with that. Thank you for coming into 1233 this morning, Assistant Minister for Science Karen Andrews and Dr Alan Broadfoot Director for Newcastle Institute for Energy and Resources.

ENDS