Since 2011 the state and territory governments have introduced public sector staffing reductions as savings measures (some jurisdictions also had reduction programs in place prior to 2011). A summary of the reductions is provided below; ‘FTE’ is not a headcount but refers to full-time equivalent staffing levels. For the Commonwealth Government, the 2012–13 Budget estimates a staffing reduction in the Australian Public Service of 3 074 FTE for 2012–13 to be achieved in the main by a combination of natural attrition and voluntary redundancies. In November 2011 the Government also increasedits efficiency dividend rate to 4.0 per cent for 2012–13 (up from a rate of 1.5 per cent per annum). In 2... Read more...
Following the announcement of a $4 billion dental package directed at children and those on low incomes, the Government has moved to close down the controversial Chronic Disease Dental Scheme (CDDS). The Health Insurance (Dental Services) Amendment Determination 2012 (No. 1), registered on 6 September 2012, amends the Health Insurance (Dental Services) Determination 2007 to bring about a staged cessation of the CDDS by 30 November 2012. The Determination is a disallowable legislative instrument which must be tabled in Parliament within six sitting days of registration. Either chamber can vote to disallow it within 15 sitting days, as this Senate brief explains.Closure of the CDDS was flagged... Read more...
The Australian Government through its National Plan for School Improvement, under the banner of Better Schools, has accepted the core recurrent funding recommendations of the Review of Funding for Schooling (the Gonski Review).The National Plan outlines a new funding model that will have a Schooling Resource Standard (SRS) for all school students supported by various loadings for disadvantage. This funding model will take place alongside an improvement framework for schools and teaching, with an overarching goal of ensuring that by 2025 Australia is ranked amongst the top five countries in the world for student performance in reading, science and mathematics. In total, the Government expects... Read more...
The just released 2012 Indigenous Expenditure Report estimates expenditure by all levels of Government on services to Indigenous Australians. It is the second in a series (the first being released in 2010) which examines inputs into Indigenous service delivery and which is intended to complement the longer running Overcoming Indigenous Disadvantage reports which examine outcomes in this same area. Both reports are currently produced by the Steering Committee for the Review of Government Service Provision.Released at the same time as the full expenditure report has been a series of all-state and state-by-state factsheets, a series of web expenditure tables and the 2012 Indigenous Expenditur... Read more...
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