GOVERNMENT EXPENDITURE ON R&D (GOVERD)

In 2011-12, GOVERD showed an increase of 3% in current price terms from 2008-09. Conversely, it decreased by 2% 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 0.27% in 2008-09 to 0.24% in 2011-12. Over the same period, the Commonwealth government showed a decrease of 0.02 percentage points, and the State and territory government also showed a decrease of 0.01 percentage points in their GOVERD/GDP ratios.

Type of expenditure

In 2011-12, GOVERD comprised of $3,097 million in Current expenditure and $436 million in Capital expenditure. The largest component of Current expenditure and GOVERD was Labour costs, at $1,783 million (58% of Current expenditure and 50% of total GOVERD).

Of all types of expenditure components, capital expenditure on Land, buildings and other structures showed the largest percentage increase (11%) from 2008-09, however it remained the lowest dollar value contributor to total GOVERD (at $181 million or 5% of total GOVERD).


Source of funds

Consistent with previous survey years, the majority of GOVERD in 2011-12 was sourced from Own funds at $2,351 million (or 66%). The second largest source of R&D funds in 2011-12 was Other Commonwealth government at $524 million (or 15% of GOVERD).


Location of expenditure

Location of expenditure relates to the region in which R&D activity was performed; see also Explanatory Note 27. Combined GOVERD in Victoria ($852 million) and New South Wales ($669 million) accounted for 43% of total GOVERD in 2011-12. R&D performed in South Australia was the next largest contributor ($526 million) showing an increase of 19% in R&D activity compared to 2008-09.

In 2011-12, while New South Wales remained as the second largest contributor to R&D expenditure by location, it also recorded the largest decrease in dollar terms (down $111 million or 14%).

In 2011-12, GOVERD as a proportion of Gross State Product (GSP) showed increases for South Australia, Tasmania and Northern Territory from 2008-09. Queensland remained steady while GOVERD/GSP ratios for all other locations showed decreases from 2008-09, with the Australian Capital Territory recording the largest decrease (down 0.15 percentage points).

GOVERD, by location of expenditure - proportion of GSP(a)
		NSW	Vic.	Qld	SA	WA	Tas.	NT	ACT
		%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%
2008-09
	Commonwealth	0.12	0.20	0.07	0.39	0.08	0.54	0.20	1.67
	State/territory	0.08	0.09	0.11	0.17	0.08	0.03	0.10	0.05
	Total	0.20	0.29	0.19	0.55	0.16	0.57	0.29	1.72
2011-12
	Commonwealth	0.09	0.18	0.08	0.42	0.05	0.54	0.24	1.53
	State/territory	0.06	0.08	0.09	0.15	0.05	0.07	0.11	0.05
	Total	0.15	0.26	0.18	0.57	0.10	0.60	0.34	1.57
(a) See Explanatory Note 28 for details.

Type of activity

The distribution of GOVERD across types of activity in 2011-12 remained largely unchanged from 2008-09. As observed for 2008-09, more than half of GOVERD was directed into Applied research (56% or $1,977 million in 2011-12) and a quarter into Strategic basic research (25% or $896 million in 2011-12). Compared to 2008-09, an increase was recorded for Pure basic research (up 15%) from $144 million in 2008-09 to $165 million in 2011-12.


Fields of Research (FOR)

The FORs attracting the largest amounts of GOVERD in 2011-12 were Agricultural and veterinary sciences ($570 million), Engineering ($536 million), and Medical and health sciences ($483 million). These three FORs accounted for 16%, 15% and 14% of total GOVERD, respectively.


Socio-economic Objective (SEO)

In 2011-12, more than half (59%) of GOVERD was directed to the SEO sectors of Economic development ($1,277 million or 36%) and Society ($799 million or 23%).

At the SEO division level, Health ($694 million or 20%), Environment ($669 million or 19%) and Defence ($599 million or 17%) were the divisions attracting the largest amounts of GOVERD in 2011-12.

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