Remarkable Journeys with Jess Fox: Conversations with our clients, people and community. Listen now.
30 Oct 2020 3 min read
Then came COVID-19 and we lost nearly all of our access to international students overnight – and the impact this has on the entire funding model is immense – which in turn affects our research and development capacity, largely driven out of our universities.
‘Job-Ready Graduates’ reforms are currently under negotiation in Parliament, with negotiations for funding models on the cards. If we need job ready graduates to drive the economic recovery, we need adequate training, qualifications and resources to do so. Higher education played a part in the rebuilding of Australia’s economy after World War II. And it can do it again.
The Government has already picked six industry ‘winners’. In order to deliver on any of the promises and investment from the Budget, we’ll need a sufficiently educated and trained workforce. Money spent at universities and the VET sector goes straight back into the economy, and Australia. Regional Australia is one of the areas of the higher education sector that could use more investment. Youth in regional areas are half as likely to obtain a university qualification as those who live in the city. But regional universities are potentially at the forefront of where we need to be in terms of partnering with industry. Finally, there needs to be a review of our childcare sector. We know universal access to quality childcare improves participation in the workforce. We saw this in action during COVID.
In our report we cover:
We were initially writing the ‘Federal Budget: A 10 year retrospective’ report before COVID-19 as an advocacy piece for more industry investment and support. Of course, the way the year started is not the way the year is ending. Many sectors that had been left to their own devices are now key for our recovery. Sovereign capability. Jobs. Digital economy. Modern manufacturing. Renewable future. Deregulation. Innovation. These are the terms we will use as we settle into COVID-normal.
Our report looks retrospectively at 13 different industries, the investment made into them by Government and their contribution to GDP. This is then overlaid with the opportunity we see for industry in this new normal based on recent Government announcements.
With the Australian economy the weakest it has been in 23 years, Labor has handed down its third Federal Budget delivering its second consecutive surplus, and setting the Government’s agenda as we head into an election cycle.
Universities have experienced so much change over the last few years.
As schools go back to Term 2, parents all around the nation are either preparing for children to return to school or settling in for a continuation of the home schooling while working from home juggle.
There is an overlooked economic opportunity in Australia’s mid-sized businesses – with the right incentives and tax policies in place, they can grow in size, scale and reach. They can employ more people, collaborate with other Australian businesses, and better contribute to Australia’s bottom line.