Australian Government investment in science reaches 30-year low

The Australian government’s investment in research and development has dropped to its lowest level in 30 years, an analysis of government figures shows.

Science and innovation spending has fallen to 2.2 per cent of total budget expenditure this year, the lowest share since 1984-5, a Fairfax Media analysis has found.

This is the third consecutive year government R&D spending has fallen as a share of either GDP or total budget spend.