NTEU Analysis of the 2013-14 Federal Budget

By Jeannie Rea. The NTEU Analysis of the 2013-14 Federal Budget, prepared by National Policy and Research Coordinator Paul Kniest, is now available for download: NTEU Analysis of 2013 Federal Budget.
This analysis clearly demonstrates that:
* Over the four year forward estimate period, the Government will pocket about $900 million in change from cutting higher education to fund school education. Yes this is the same amount as being cut from university grants as the ‘efficiency dividend’.
* The efficiency dividend includes $7 million less in funding for Indigenous Support, Disability Support and Participation and Partnership funding.
* The impact of the efficiency dividend on the real level of CGS funding per government supported student places (CSP) is:
          o A significant and ongoing write-down in funding of some $340 per student, and
          o Reduction in real direct Commonwealth funding of some $160 per student.
*  The significance of the cut in real funding of $160 per student is made even starker when we recognise that the Bradley and Base Funding Reviews both recommended increases in the order of 10% per student.
*  Claims made by the Government that university funding per student will increase from approximately $18,000 per student in 2014 to $18,100 per student in 2017 can only be true if the real contribution made by students through HECS increases by about $260. That is, the Government is relying on the indexation of student contributions to offset the real reduction in its own contribution.
This will not result in a Smarter Nation. The Government’s own reviews showed that all levels of education are in need of additional public funding – not real cuts in funding.
Please utilise this analysis to continue to campaign against the dumb cuts: www.dumbcuts.org.au.
Regards, Jeannie Rea, NTEU National President.