Kim Carr (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Innovation, Industry, Science and Research) Share this | Hansard source

What I was indicating was that in the late nineties, while the previous government reduced research and development assistance, the situation was that 12 other countries increased their level of support. So our competitors were moving in one way and Australia was moving in the other. That has nothing whatsoever to do with the new-found interest that the opposition has in innovation.

We only have to compare this with what the previous government did in respect of universities. Here we see a similar pattern emerge. Between 1995 and 2004, public funding for tertiary education rose by 49 per cent on average among OECD member countries, but in Australia it fell by four per cent. And now I am asked whether or not the government are going to change our position with regard to the budget situation that we found ourselves in as a result of the legacy of the previous regime—a regime which left us with record levels of inflation. Australia, I might add, was the only one of the OECD countries where the top level of public funding for tertiary education, as a result of the former government’s legacy, decreased during their period of office. And they want to lecture us!