16 May 2002 [2]

In this aliaNEWS broadcast...

Federal Budget 2002 analysis summary

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Federal Budget 2002 analysis summary
Senior staff at ALIA National Office offer an analysis of the 2002 Federal Budget as handed down by treasurer Peter Costello on Tuesday night. A summary of the report will be printed as an insert in the June inCite, but to get the full picture, view the extensive online document at http://www.alia.org.au/publishing/budget.analysis/2002.html.

In the Budget-night episode of Channel Nine's West Wing a distinguished American physicist argued with a US senator and a presidential aide for funding for an expensive experiment on proton collisions.

'What practical value has that got?', the senator and the aide ask.

'None', replied the scientist. 'And neither did the electron, when it was discovered at the end of the 19th century. But now the world runs on electronics.' This budget has produced some modest increases in support for research. Science and innovation will receive a $5.1m boost, up 5.8 per cent. The Australian Research Council has an additional $85.0m and the Research Infrastructure block grants scheme increases of $23.0m and $27.0m will help to upgrade university libraries, laboratories and other research infrastructure.

This is not funding which encourages the proton smasher or the breakthrough research which fuels prosperity and development. Why not?

After all, our economy is, as the prime minister tells us repeatedly, going 'gangbusters'. The government has effectively managed significant tax reform and protected the Australian economy from the effects of the recession which impacted on our major trading partners. Its policies have resulted in a 3.75 per cent growth rate since the last budget, with the same prediction or better for next year. Unemployment is steady at just over 6 per cent and Treasury forecasts growth in business investment by 12 per cent.

So, if the government cannot now commit to investing substantially in the intellectual ability of Australians, when will it?

There is no significant new commitment to funding research and development in universities nor to encouraging industrial and business innovation and research. Australia's most successful private sector research and development start program for small business has been frozen. The major R&D initiative in 2003 will be the ICT Centre of Excellence which is budgeted to receive $7.0m in 2003 out of a total $129.0m.

This is a budget of missed opportunities. Its underlying logic is to reward the priorities of voters who delivered the coalition's successful election result after 11 September.

After a election campaign of misinformation, voters showed that they wanted increased border protection and barriers against asylum seekers. The coalition has responded with the khaki budget. However, as the debate on the funding of pharmaceuticals and pensions begins, the fickle voter will become aware of the cost of the offshore processing of asylum-seekers.

Canberra spent about $540.0m more on defence than education before 11 September. The present budget increases that gap to $1.0 billion.

University funding in the budget is pegged at $6.2 billion, which is, according to academics, students and administrators, is insufficient for present and immediate future needs. The government is providing $480.0m to fund 8300 undergraduate places by 2004. Postgraduate education loans have been extended to four more institutions. However the key decisions about tertiary education will be made after the completion of the Higher Education - At the Crossroads review later this year.

The budget has boosted private school funding to more than $1 billion, increasing to $5 billion in the next three years. Funding for state schools is half that rate.

The intergenerational report devotes less than a page to education, noting that the federal government will be spending proportionately even less on it than now. It summarises the future commitment to education as follows:

'In recent years, demands for a more-skilled labour force and the desire for education have increased... At the same time, the proportion of the population in the principal age group for education (5 to 24 years) has fallen from 36 per cent in 1972 to 28 per cent in 2002.

'Reflecting these trends, Commonwealth spending on education and training, while continuing to grow at a solid rate, is likely to decline as a share of GDP over the next four decades from 1.8 per cent of GDP in 2001-2002 to 1.6 per cent of GDP by 2041-2042'. [Budget Paper No. 5, p8]

So much for lifelong learning in 2042.

This is not a budget to excite the library and information sector, given the lack of stimulus to research and development and the status quo funding of the tertiary education sector and of the National Library of Australia. Apparent gains in funding of cultural institutions, such as the boost to National Museum of Australia funding have been made at the expense of other institutions. There are some opportunities for entrepreneurial library workers to benefit from the schools' funding, the programs for IT skilling of the over 45 year-olds and other information and communication technology policies outlined in the full online document.

http://www.alia.org.au/publishing/budget.analysis/2002.html

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