- Expenditure on R&D performed by Australian government organisations during the 2018-19 financial year was $3,330 million.
- Commonwealth government organisations contributed $2,110 million (63%), and state and territory government organisations contributed $1,219 million (37%), to total government expenditure on R&D (GOVERD).
- R&D expenditure by Commonwealth government organisations decreased $29 million (1%), while R&D expenditure by State and territory government organisations increased $80 million (7%) compared to 2016-17.
- GOVERD increased 2% in current price terms and remained unchanged in chain volume terms between 2016-17 and 2018-19.
- GOVERD as a proportion of GDP decreased from 0.19% in 2016-17 to 0.17% in 2018-19.
Government resources devoted to R&D
| 2008-09 | 2011-12 | 2012-13 | 2014-15 | 2016-17 | 2018-19 | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Expenditure on R&D - Current prices | ||||||||
| Commonwealth | $m | 2 252 | 2 426 | 2 345 | 2 257 | 2 139 | 2 110 | |
| State/territory | $m | 1 169 | 1 123 | 1 381 | 1 072 | 1 140 | 1 219 | |
| Total(a) | $m | 3 420 | 3 549 | 3 725 | 3 329 | 3 279 | 3 330 | |
| Expenditure on R&D - Chain volume measures(b) | ||||||||
| Commonwealth | $m | 2 793 | 2 800 | 2 594 | 2 347 | 2 172 | 2 110 | |
| State/territory | $m | 1 450 | 1 296 | 1 528 | 1 114 | 1 158 | 1 219 | |
| Total(a) | $m | 4 243 | 4 096 | 4 123 | 3 461 | 3 330 | 3 330 | |
| Human resources devoted to R&D | ||||||||
| Commonwealth | PYE | 9 209 | 9 800 | 9 820 | 8 443 | 8 000 | 7 763 | |
| State/territory | PYE | 7 834 | 6 889 | 6 561 | 6 273 | 6 773 | 6 758 | |
| Total(a) | PYE | 17 042 | 16 689 | 16 381 | 14 715 | 14 773 | 14 521 | |
a. Where figures have been rounded, discrepancies may occur between the sum of the component items and totals.
b. The reference year for chain volume measures is 2018-19. See Methodology for details.
Expenditure figures and supporting commentary below are presented in current price values.
Government expenditure on R&D (GOVERD)
Type of expenditure
- GOVERD included $3,068 million (92%) in Current expenditure and $262 million (8%) in Capital expenditure. Compared with 2016-17, Current expenditure increased $72 million (2%) and Capital expenditure decreased $21 million (7%).
- The largest component of GOVERD was Labour costs, at $1,940 million (58%), followed by Other current expenditure, which includes all other non-staff expenditure, at $1,128 million (34%). Compared with 2016-17, Labour costs increased $48 million (3%) and Other current expenditure increased by $24 million (2%).
Source of funds
- The two main sources of funds for GOVERD were Own funds ($2,180 million or 65% of GOVERD) and Other Commonwealth government funding ($397 million or 12% of GOVERD).
- Other Commonwealth government recorded the largest dollar increase of $73 million (23%) between 2016-17 and 2018-19, followed by Business, up $27 million (17%).
Location
Location of expenditure relates to the region in which R&D activity was performed. Please refer to the Location of R&D section of the Methodology for further information.
- Victoria ($803 million), New South Wales ($658 million) and Queensland ($616 million) accounted for over half (62%) of total GOVERD.
- Between 2016-17 and 2018-19, Queensland recorded the largest increase in dollar terms, up $78 million (14%). The Australian Capital Territory recorded the largest dollar decrease, down $42 million (11%).
GOVERD and Gross State Product (GSP)
GOVERD, by location of expenditure - proportion of GSP(a)
| NSW % | Vic. % | Qld % | SA % | WA % | Tas. % | NT % | ACT % | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016-17 | |||||||||
| Commonwealth | 0.06 | 0.13 | 0.07 | 0.32 | 0.05 | 0.42 | 0.14 | 0.97 | |
| State | 0.05 | 0.06 | 0.09 | 0.10 | 0.06 | 0.00 | 0.17 | 0.04 | |
| Total(b) | 0.11 | 0.19 | 0.16 | 0.42 | 0.11 | 0.43 | 0.31 | 1.01 | |
| 2018-19 | |||||||||
| Commonwealth | 0.05 | 0.12 | 0.07 | 0.31 | 0.05 | 0.44 | 0.13 | 0.79 | |
| State | 0.06 | 0.06 | 0.10 | 0.10 | 0.04 | 0.01 | 0.09 | 0.02 | |
| Total(b) | 0.11 | 0.18 | 0.17 | 0.41 | 0.09 | 0.45 | 0.23 | 0.81 | |
a. Refer to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and Gross State Product (GSP) section of the Methodology page for details.
b. Where figures have been rounded, discrepancies may occur between the sum of the component items and totals.
Type of activity
- The largest component of Type of activity was Applied research totalling $1,835 million (55% of GOVERD) followed by Strategic basic research at $840 million (25%), Experimental development at $520 million (16%) and Pure basic research at $135 million (4%).
- Between 2016-17 and 2018-19, Experimental development recorded the largest dollar increase of $60 million (13%).
Fields of Research (FOR)
- The top three Fields of Research, in terms of expenditure, remained unchanged from 2016-17. Medical and Health Sciences ($640 million), Agricultural and Veterinary Sciences ($558 million) and Engineering ($521 million) accounted for over half (52%) of total GOVERD.
- Medical and Health Sciences recorded the largest dollar increase of $138 million (28%), between 2016-17 and 2018-19.
Socio-economic Objective (SEO)
- Health ($726 million or 22%) remained the largest component of GOVERD by Socio-economic Objective, followed by Environment ($521 million or 16%).
- Between 2016-17 and 2018-19, Health recorded the largest dollar increase of $133 million (22%).
Government human resources devoted to R&D
- Australian government organisations devoted a total of 14,521 person years of effort (PYE) to R&D, a decrease of 252 PYE (2%) from 2016-17.
- Researchers accounted for the majority of human resources effort devoted to R&D in 2018-19, totalling 7,570 PYE (52%) and showing an increase of 86 PYE (1%).
- Decreases in PYE were seen for Technicians (down 207 PYE or 5%) and Other staff (down 131 PYE or 5%).