Introduction
Marilyn Harrington
For school education and vocational education and training
(VET), the Budget mostly reflects the new federal financial
relations framework previously set in place through the
Intergovernmental Agreement on Federal Financial Relations. Also,
for school education, additional infrastructure funding was
provided by the Building the Education Revolution (BER) initiatives
appropriated under the Appropriation (Nation Building and Jobs)
Act (No 2) 2008–2009. It is higher education, the
third tranche of the Government’s promised ‘education
revolution’, which is the education focus of the
2009–10 Budget. The higher education budget measures signal
major structural reform for the sector, by encapsulating the
Government’s response to the Review of Australian Higher
Education (the Bradley Review) and introducing new indexation
arrangements.
Total education expenses are estimated to increase in real terms
by 60.9 per cent in 2009–10. This increase is mostly
accounted for by the BER initiatives, which are short-term, the
higher education budget measures and the transfer of expenditure
from the social security portfolio area to education as a result of
reforms of student income support payments.[1] The latter will mean that, in future,
budget figures for total education outlay over time will not be
directly comparable. It is also worth noting that from 2009, as a
result of the new federal financial relations framework, the
payment arrangements for the government components of child care,
school and VET programs are now managed by Treasury. Hence these
expenses now appear in the Treasury Portfolio Budget Statements
rather than the Education, Employment and Workplace Relations
Portfolio Budget Statements.[2]
[1].
See the ‘Welfare payments—student income support’
section of this Budget Review for information on these reforms.
[2].
For further information about these arrangements, see Australian
Government, Portfolio budget statements 2009–10: budget
related paper no. 1.5: Education, Employment and Workplace
Relations Portfolio, Commonwealth of Australia, 2009, pp.
16–17, viewed 20 May 2009,
http://www.deewr.gov.au/Department/Publications/
Documents/DepartmentofEducationEmploymentandWorkplaceRelationsAgencyOverview.pdf