Mid-year Economic and Fiscal Outlook Cuts a Half-Billion from University Research. (October 22, 2012)

When the Rudd Labor government assumed power in 2007 it recognised that the funding for university research on-costs was grossly inadequate, and while Minister for Tertiary Education, Senator Chris Evans states: "Close to $880 million in ARC Discovery and Linkage grants and $154 million in CRC grants will support the research effort, ensuring continuity for ongoing projects as well as new investment in key scientific and research priorities," The Australian's Andrew Trounson reports:

The SRE (Sustaining Excellent Research) funding target of $300 million a year has been put back three years to 2016. This will save the government $79 million in 2012-13, and $159 million in 2013-14. [It] will also scrap so-called facilitation funding for universities aimed at helping them achieve performance targets under their mission-based compact agreements with government. Funding will be stopped from the end of 2013 and save the government $270 million over three years. This amounts to a $53 million saving in 2013-14 and a $107 million saving in 2014-15.

It really doesn't require a Nobel Economics Laureate to deduce it's still a half-billion dollars cut from the research budget unless the universities rob Peter to pay Paul. 

And why? Because of Labor's being spooked by the Opposition's mantra that they can't put the federal budget back into (apparent?) surplus for the coming financial year, and are unable to find the ability to make the case for pursuing a more gradual and sensible pace for doing so.

The Group of Eight's take on the matter is reprinted below.