|
|
|
|
As the week draws to a close it’s fair to say Treasurer Josh Frydenberg’s third budget has been well received. Most economists support the Treasurer’s increased spending to grow the economy and drive down unemployment. He has listened to the experts and got the big picture right.
But the 2021 budget also has a major blindspot – an inexplicable unwillingness to invest in higher education. It’s a gap so obvious that many are starting to question whether it is the product of anti-expert animus in Coalition ranks.
Whatever the motivation, the current neglect of higher education is criminal. The Morrison government didn’t create the pandemic that triggered the collapse of international student revenue. But it did close the borders, and it is keeping them closed while failing to render anything close to adequate aid to universities.
Why? Australia’s higher education system is highly efficient and among the best in the world. We have many highly ranked universities and world-class academics. Higher education is Australia’s fourth largest export industry. In 2019 it brought in A$9.8 billion and was estimated to be worth close to $40 billion to the Australian economy.
Higher education raises revenue and it provides industry with a skilled workforce, and it does highly-regarded research that can drive technological innovation and help us respond to problems like – just to pluck a random example – a global pandemic.
If your aim is to stimulate the economy and set Australia up for future success, investment in higher education is a no-brainer. Yet most universities have been excluded from JobKeeper. So far more than 17,000 jobs have been lost in the sector, with more to come. Can you imagine this government being so nonchalant about losing the equivalent number of jobs in any other industry?
Apart from a $1 billion research package in the October 2020 budget, the government appears content to stand by and watch as the sector bleeds talent to offset the billions lost from the decline of international students. Its funding of higher education in the current budget represents a $400 million funding reduction, while everywhere else money is being pumped in.
It’s perplexing, especially from where we sit at The Conversation, as a media outlet that shares the deep expertise of Australia’s academics. Every day we see the passion and knowledge and commitment to the public good of Australia’s academics. Our academics, and the universities in which they work, are a rich and valuable resource.
The Morrison government deserves credit for listening to experts on its overall budget settings. It’s deeply worrying that at the same time it appears to be so uninterested in the future of the institutions that employ them.
|
Misha Ketchell
Editor & Executive Director
|
|
|
Shutterstock
Frank Larkins, The University of Melbourne; Ian Marshman, The University of Melbourne
The budget splashed out extra money for almost every sector deemed important to economic recovery (or politically sensitive). But with universities in a state of financial crisis, they missed out.
|
Shutterstock
Andrew Norton, Australian National University
Tuesday's budget shows a reversion back to the previous policy of keeping total higher education funding broadly stable.
|
Lukas Coch/AAP
Michelle Grattan, University of Canberra
Going forth from this week's budget, whether a pivot is sharp or not, and what amounts to “austerity”, depend in part on whether you are one of the losers.
|
Mick Tsikas/AAP
Michelle Grattan, University of Canberra
A promise to set up a $10 billion Housing Australia Future Fund to build social and affordable housing was the centrepiece of Anthony Albanese's Thursday night budget reply.
|
David Crosling/AAP Image
John Shine, Garvan Institute
The federal budget contains money for big-ticket items like the SKA telescope and mRNA vaccines. But dwindling funds for universities and fundamental science will leave us vulnerable to future problems.
|
Kelsey Brunner/AP/AAP
Adam Taylor, Griffith University
A vaccine expert breaks down everything you need to know about Australia's newest COVID-19 vaccine candidate.
|
EPA-EFE/Divyakant Solanki
Nitasha Kaul, University of Westminster
The humanitarian disaster in India has been made worse by a lack of accountability at the highest level in government.
|
Politics + Society
|
-
Cristina Rocha, Western Sydney University
Yes, religion plays a more prominent role in political life in Australia than it once did – but it's not just because of the prime minister's faith.
-
Claire Higgins, UNSW
This excessive spending raises serious raise questions about the government's long-term planning for refugees stuck in limbo.
-
Mark Harvey, University of Auckland
Investment in the arts is also an investment in economic growth, health and well-being – but arts practitioners won't be holding their breath at budget time.
|
|
Science + Technology
|
-
Patrick M Shober, Curtin University
You might think lots of meteorites ultimately come from comets. Turns out, you'd be wrong, according to a new study that tracked meteors hurtling through the sky to find out where they came from.
-
Silke Cleuren, Monash University; Alistair Evans, Monash University; David Hocking, Monash University
Some snakes have tough, blunt fangs for cracking crabs. Others have sharp needles for getting a grip on mice.
|
|
Environment + Energy
|
-
Jillian Huntley, Griffith University; Adam Brumm, Griffith University; Adhi Oktaviana, Griffith University; Basran Burhan, Griffith University; Maxime Aubert, Griffith University
The ancient cave paintings have only begun to tell us about the lives of the earliest people who lived in Australasia. The art is disappearing just as we are beginning to understand its significance.
-
John Quiggin, The University of Queensland
The Morrison government could have backed Australia's clean energy sector to create jobs and stimulate the post-pandemic economy. Instead, it's sending the nation on a fool's errand.
-
Mark Duckworth, Deakin University
The real success of the National Recovery and Resilience Agency will be not only in what it does, but in how it carries out its work, in the relationships it forges, and in the trust it gains.
|
|
Health + Medicine
|
-
Severine Lamon, Deakin University
While the World Athletics rules advocate that testosterone is a direct determinant of muscle performance, our research indicates this relationship is not so simple.
-
Monica Slavin, Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre; Karin Thursky, The Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity
The emergence of a fungal infection called mucormycosis in India is another unexpected and distressing consequence of the COVID pandemic.
-
Michael Toole, Burnet Institute
The first few months of 2020 were critical to the World Health Organization's response to COVID-19. But the latest report into what happened wasn't all damning.
-
Paul Fitzgerald, Monash University
In this week's federal budget we heard how this non-drug treatment for depression will be available on Medicare for people who've not responded to antidepressants.
-
Driss Ait Ouakrim, The University of Melbourne; Ameera Katar, The University of Melbourne; Tony Blakely, The University of Melbourne
This week's budget assumes all Australians will have the chance to be fully vaccinated by the end of the year. It's ambitious but possible.
-
Dileep Mavalankar, Public Health Foundation of India
As the peak of India's COVID crisis approaches, the country desperately needs more help from the international community.
|
|
Arts + Culture
|
-
Samuel Alexander, The University of Melbourne
The line between what is normal and what is pathological has blurred. We risk our collective sanity and our planet if we stick to business as usual.
-
Deborah Lupton, UNSW
Fictional screen robots have long represented our fear of technology. A new animated family film combines this trepidation with many parents' fear of losing offline connection with their kids.
|
|
| |
Featured jobs
|
|
|
|
— Canberra ACT, Australia
|
|
— Townsville QLD, Australia
|
|
— Canberra ACT, Australia
|
|
|
|
| |
| |
| |
|
| |
| |
| |
Featured Events & Courses
|
|
online webinar, Perth, Western Australia, 6009, Australia — The University of Western Australia
|
|
|
online webinar, Perth, Western Australia, 6009, Australia — The University of Western Australia
|
|
River Room, Customs House, 399 Queen St, Brisbane City, Queensland, 4000, Australia — The University of Queensland
|
|
6-week online course, Sydney, New South Wales, 2007, Australia — University of Technology Sydney
|
|
|
|
| |
| |
| |
| |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
