GOVERNMENT’S RESEARCH PACKAGE LOCKS IN FUNDING DECLINE
May 6 2004
The Backing Australia’s Ability II package announced by Prime Minister John Howard on Thursday fails to maintain Government spending as a percentage of GDP in the economically vital area of research and development.
“Australia’s performance in research and development has been poor relative to its OECD competitors,” said National Tertiary Education Union (NTEU) President, Dr Carolyn Allport.
“Not only is Australia’s expenditure on research and development well below the OECD average of 2.3% of GDP, since 1996 Australia’s share has declined while the OECD has been rising (refer to chart one).”
“While the Government’s decision to fund a second stage of Backing Australia’s Ability is positive, overall the level of funding delivered in this package is disappointing. At the very least, the NTEU was looking for any new package to at least maintain Backing Australia’s Ability’s share as a percentage of GDP.”
“Over the period 2004-5 to 2010-11, Backing Australia’s Ability II delivers $5.3 billion, whereas it would have required $5.9 billion to maintain the initiative’s share of GDP,” said Dr Allport. “This is a shortfall of approximately $600 million.”
“The Government’s projected funding over the period is not likely to even be sufficient to cover the expected inflation rate and therefore constitutes a real cut in Government expenditure on the original package.”
“The overall level of funding aside, some of the individual initiatives in the package appear to be positive,” said Dr Allport. “It is good that the Government has chosen to simplify programs aimed at assisting research commercialisation, and to retain the existing block grants funding system for universities.”
“It is unfortunate, however, that in a number of crucial areas the Government has failed to pick up important recommendations from its own research reviews. There appears to be no funding boost for research infrastructure, a key recommendation of the reviews".
“According to the Government’s own research reviews, universities leveraged a total of $450 million from their own budgets to participate in competitive research programs in 2002-3. There is nothing in the package to cover these hidden costs which seriously impedes universities’ capacity to invest in infrastructure and strategic initiatives.”
“This is not the package that the research community expected,” said Dr Allport. “This is a package that allow us, at best, to tread water and does not help Australia’s researchers meet the challenges of the future.”
For information and comment:
Dr Carolyn Allport: NTEU President
Andrew Nette, NTEU Policy and Research Coordinator
03 9254 1910