GOVERNMENT EXPENDITURE ON R&D (GOVERD)

In 2008-09, GOVERD showed an increase of 10% in current price terms from 2006-07 and 4% in chain volume terms.

Subsequent expenditure figures and supporting commentary relate to current price terms.


GOVERD and gross domestic product (GDP)

At a whole of government level, GOVERD as a proportion of GDP decreased from 0.28% in 2006-07 to 0.27% in 2008-09. Over the same period, both Commonwealth government and State and territory government also showed decreases of 0.01 percentage points in their GOVERD/GDP ratios.

The following table shows GOVERD/GDP ratios for Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries.

GOVERD/GDP ratios of OECD countries(a)(b)(c)
	2004-05	2005-06	2006-07	2007-08	2008-09
	%	%	%	%	%
Iceland	na	0.65	0.61	0.48	0.47
Korea	0.32	0.33	0.35	0.37	na
Germany	0.34	0.35	0.35	0.35	na
New Zealand	na	0.30	na	0.33	na
France	0.37	0.37	0.35	0.32	0.33
Czech Republic	0.28	0.28	0.29	0.32	0.31
Finland	0.33	0.33	0.32	0.29	0.30
United States of America	0.31	0.31	0.30	0.29	0.29
Japan	0.30	0.28	0.28	0.27	na
Australia	0.28	na	0.28	na	0.27
Spain	0.17	0.19	0.20	0.22	0.25
Luxembourg	0.18	0.19	0.20	0.21	0.25
Norway	0.25	0.24	0.24	0.25	0.24
Hungary	0.26	0.27	0.25	0.23	na
Netherlands	0.26	0.24	0.23	0.22	na
Poland	0.22	0.21	0.21	0.20	0.21
Canada	0.18	0.20	0.20	0.19	0.19
Sweden	0.11	0.18	0.17	0.17	0.17
Belgium	0.14	0.15	0.15	0.15	0.17
Italy	0.20	0.19	0.20	0.17	0.16
United Kingdom	0.18	0.18	0.18	0.16	0.16
Slovak Republic	0.16	0.15	0.16	0.16	0.15
Austria	0.12	0.13	0.13	0.14	na
Greece	0.11	0.12	0.12	0.12	na
Portugal	0.12	0.12	0.12	0.11	0.12
Mexico	0.10	0.10	0.10	0.10	na
Ireland	0.09	0.09	0.09	0.09	0.11
Denmark	0.17	0.16	0.16	0.08	0.09
Turkey	0.04	0.07	0.07	0.08	na
Switzerland	0.03	na	0.02	na	0.02
Total OECD	0.26	0.26	0.26	0.25	na
na not available
(a) Except for Australia, the GOVERD/GDP ratios shown for OECD countries are sourced from Main Science and Technology Indicators, 2009/2, OECD. Ratios for Australia have been calculated using the most recent ABS values for GOVERD and GDP. See Explanatory Notes 28 and 29.
(b) GOVERD/GDP ratios for some countries are projected or estimated as per the OECD source table.
(c) Countries are ranked by the most recent available GOVERD/GDP ratio.

Type of expenditure

In 2008-09, GOVERD comprised of $3,018 million in Current expenditure and $402 million in Capital expenditure. The largest component of Current expenditure and GOVERD was Labour costs, at $1,690 million (56% of Current expenditure and 49% of total GOVERD).

Of all types of expenditure components, capital expenditure on Land, buildings and other structures showed the largest percentage increase (43%) from 2006-07, however it remained the lowest dollar value contributor to total GOVERD (at $163 million or 5% of total GOVERD).


Source of funds

As in previous years, the majority of GOVERD in 2008-09 was sourced from Own funds at $2,287 million (or 67%). The next largest source of R&D funds in 2008-09 was Other commonwealth government at $449 million (or 13% of GOVERD).

The largest percentage increase (132%) from 2006-07 was reported for funds sourced from Private non-profit organisations (an increase of $51 million). In 2008-09, this source of funds was the only source to show an increase of more than one percentage point in its proportional share of GOVERD from 2006-07.


Location of expenditure

Location of expenditure relates to the region in which R&D activity was performed; see also Explanatory Note 27. GOVERD in Victoria ($811 million) and New Suth Wales ($780 million) accounted for almost half (47%) of total GOVERD in 2008-09.

From 2006-07, New South Wales recorded the highest growth in dollar terms (up $103 million), followed by Victoria (up $65 million). Western Australia recorded the largest percentage increase from 2006-07, up 22% ($50 million).

In 2008-09, GOVERD as a proportion of gross state product (GSP) remained steady from 2006-07 for New South Wales, Queensland and Western Australia. GOVERD/GSP ratios for all other locations show decreases from 2006-07, with the Australian Capital Territory recording the largest decrease (down 0.14 percentage points).

GOVERD, by location of expenditure - proportion of GSP(a)
		NSW	Vic.	Qld	SA	WA	Tas.	NT	ACT
		%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%
2006-07
	Commonwealth	0.10	0.20	0.09	0.42	0.07	0.53	0.13	1.86
	State/territory	0.09	0.08	0.11	0.16	0.09	0.05	0.19	0.02
	Total	0.19	0.29	0.20	0.58	0.16	0.58	0.32	1.87
2008-09
	Commonwealth	0.12	0.19	0.08	0.39	0.08	0.51	0.19	1.68
	State/territory	0.08	0.09	0.12	0.17	0.08	0.03	0.09	0.05
	Total	0.19	0.28	0.20	0.56	0.16	0.54	0.29	1.73
(a) See Explanatory Note 28 for details.

Type of activity

The distribution of GOVERD across type of activity in 2008-09 was largely unchanged from 2006-07. As observed for 2006-07, more than half of GOVERD was directed into Applied research (56% or $1,913 million in 2008-09) and over a quarter into Strategic basic research (26% or $892 million in 2008-09).


Field of research (FOR)

The FORs attracting the largest amounts of GOVERD in 2008-09 were Engineering ($611 million), Agricultural and veterinary sciences ($545 million) and Medical and health sciences ($452 million). These three FORs accounted for 18%, 16% and 13% of total GOVERD, respectively.


Socio-economic objective (SEO)

In 2008-09, more than half (57%) of GOVERD was directed to the SEO sectors of Economic development ($1,159 million or 34%) and Environment ($794 million or 23%).

At the SEO division level, a similar proportion of GOVERD (53%) was attributable to Environment ($794 million or 23%), Health ($544 million or 16%) and Defence ($486 million or 14%) in 2008-09.

Previous Page

Next Page