b'Canberra observed billion in 201920, and before our tradeTable 2.Expenditure on R&D inCommonwealth government war with China\x08 higher education sector\x08 Source:organisations contributed $2 https://www\x08abs\x08gov\x08au/statistics/ 110 million (63%), and state and One of the disturbing parts of thisterritory government organisations report is the reduction in capitalindustry/technology-and-innovation/research-and-experimental- contributed $1,219 million (37%), to expenditure over the last few years\x08total government expenditure on R&D This includes spending on buildings,development-higher-education- (GOVERD)\x08machinery, equipment and exploration\x08organisations-australia/latest-release R&D expenditure by Commonwealth The oil and gas sector is now onlygovernment organisations spending about 10% of what it wasYear Current 2018 Person decreased $29 million (1%), while spending in 2013-14\x08 The gold sectorprice $m prices $m yearsR&D expenditure by State and stands out as a continuing success,2008 6 844 8 842 61 773 territory government organisations and exploration investment has almost2010 8 161 9 784 69 392 increased$80 million (7%) compared doubled in the last three years to reach2012 9 610 10 861 74 669 to 2016-17\x08$350 million per quarter in the thirdGOVERD increased 2% in current price quarter of 2020\x08 2014 10 145 10 888 78 038 terms and remained unchanged in CPI Ultimately our future will depend on2016 10 878 11 172 79 008 adjusted values between 2016-17 and politics and COVID-19\x08 Couple these2018 12 158 12 158 81 717 2018-19\x08factors with climate change and a NewGOVERD as a proportion of GDP Normal is likely to be unobtainable\x08 decreased from 0\x0819% in 2016-17 to Government resources for research0\x0817% in 2018-19\x08Research efforts by governmentsand experimental developmentTable 3 gives the basic numbers\x08 The and universities should be(R&D) decrease in the investment in R&D as a increased The ABS has also released the numberspercentage of GDP is a worry\x08 R&D is a for R&D undertaken by governments\x08 long-term investment for our future, and Expenditure on research by universitiesit should be maintained\x08increases in 2018 The main findings are that:We should be doing better\x08In May 2020 the Australian Bureau ofExpenditure on R&D performed by Statistics released its report on HigherAustralian government organisations education resources devoted to researchduring the 2018-19 financial year was and experimental development (R&D)$3 330 million\x08for 2018 (Table 2)\x08 Why we had to wait two years for this information has not been revealed\x08 The ABS only producesTable 3. these reports every two years in anyGovernment resources devoted to R&D\x08 Source: https://www\x08abs\x08gov\x08case, so maybe we should be thankfulau/statistics/industry/technology-and-innovation/research-and-experimental-it is published at all\x08 This situation isdevelopment-government-and-private-non-profit-organisations-australia/latest-indicative of the efficiency-dividendreleasecuts applied annually by recent governments\x08 AustralianStates AustralianStatesGovernment GovernmentAnyway, the report states that: Current priceCurrentTotals $m 2018192018 -19Totals $m Person Year $m price $m price $m price $m yearsExpenditure on R&D performed by Australian higher education200809 2252 1169 3420 2793 1450 4243 17 042organisations during the 2018 calendar201112 2462 1123 3549 2800 1296 4096 16 689year was $12 158 million\x08 201213 2345 1381 3725 2594 1528 4123 16 381Higher education expenditure on R&D (HERD) increased by 12% in current201415 2257 1072 3329 2347 1114 3461 14 715price terms and 9% from 2016 when201617 2139 1140 3279 2172 1158 3330 14 773CPI adjustments are applied\x08 201819 2110 1219 3330 2110 1219 3330 14 521HERD as a proportion of GDP remained stable at 0\x0862% over a two-year period\x0823 PREVIEW FEBRUARY 2021'