Investment in the Research Capacity Program

Question

Senator KOVACIC: I want to clarify the $2.2 billion deduction that I mentioned previously. To give you the context of where I've taken that from, as it may assist you to come back to me: I'm looking at page 57 of Budget Paper No. 2 a little bit ironically. It's called 'Boosting productivity, promoting research development and innovation,' and my read of that is that, if you cut $800 million over the forwards and an additional $1.4 billion from 2030-2031 and 2036-2037-I'm reading directly from the document-that adds up to $2.2 billion in cuts over the decade. Mr Cook: I've got that in front of me now as well. Thank you for referencing that point. I would agree with you on that. Senator KOVACIC: Thank you. I just wanted to confirm that one. I wanted to check myself. Mr Cook: All good. Senator KOVACIC: In having a think about the same program under this year's budget, we have $472.4 million in 2026-27, $411 million in 2027-28, $447 million in 2028-29 and $257 million in 2029-30. I've rounded those up, but it's a total of $1,588,326,000. On my reading, our investment in the research capacity program under this government has shrunk by more than $924 million in the last four years. Would that be accurate? Ms Morton: We'd probably need to confirm that with the Department of Industry Science and Resources. We may need to take that on notice for you. Senator KOVACIC: Wonderful. Could you also add to that an adjustment for inflation. The coalition's investment in the research capacity program over the forward estimates stood an equivalent $2.929 billion in today's dollars, which compares to $1.588 billion in the current budget, which on my rough numbers suggests about a drop of in capacity in the program by about 46 per cent in real terms. ......... Mr Cook: Can I just clarify your question that we've taken on notice about the research capacity. I think you asked for the previous four financial years versus the forward estimates. Is that what you were asking for? Senator KOVACIC: Yes, correct. Mr Cook: Thank you.

Answer

Please see the attached PDF.

Documents

• Question with answer (PDF) (opens in a new tab)
• SQ26-000721.pdf (opens in a new tab)