Alarm over fall in government research funding

Government funding for research is at its lowest level in a decade.

The fall in basic research funding is particularly concerning says Vicki Thomson, CEO of the Group of Eight.

In today’s Higher Ed Daily Brief: Alarm over research, new sod turned

Government research spending falls

The Group of Eight universities have raised the alarm about the latest figures on government funding of research from the Australian Bureau of Statistics which show it has fallen to its lowest level in a decade — only 0.19 per cent of GDP in 2016-17 compared to 0.21 per cent two years previously.

That might not sound like much but when we are talking about an Australian GDP of $1.6 trillion it amounts to a loss in the hundreds of millions of dollars.

“A nation walks away from investing in research at its peril,” warns Go8 chief executive Vicki Thomson. “Research creates jobs, stimulates the economy, saves and changes lives and contributes significantly to the economic, social and environmental wellbeing of the Australian community.”

In 2016-17 pure basic research recorded the largest dollar decrease of $50 million (down 29 per cent), followed by applied research down $47 million (a fall of 3 per cent) and strategic basic research was down $22 million (or 3 per cent) from 2014-15. Experimental development recorded the only increase in 2016-17, up $69 million (or 18 per cent).

“The drop in basic research funding is particularly concerning as it is the start of Australia’s research pipeline,” said Ms Thomson

USC’s new campus underway

A federal election is not far away. Even closer is the July 28 by election in the Queensland electorate of Longman just north of Brisbane, where the Liberals are trying to take the seat off Labor’s Susan Lamb who is recontesting after being forced to resign over citizenship troubles.

So no surprise to see federal Education Minister Simon Birmingham and Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton last week turning the first sod on the University of the Sunshine Coast’s new campus in Petrie, right adjacent to the Longman electorate. It’s expected to house 10,000 students by 2030. No surprise either that a week or two ago Labor committed $120 million to fund the project if it wins office.