In 201­5–16, Australian business expenditures on R&D (BERD) decreased 12% in current price terms to AUD 16.7 million ($13.2 million) from 2013–14. Human resources in businesses also decreased 11% for the same time period to 70,467 people. The declines are attributed to the second successive decrease in BERD in the mining and manufacturing industries. The mining industry’s share of BERD fell 54.3% to AUD 1.9 million ($1.5 million), while the manufacturing industry’s BERD contribution dropped 19.3% to AUD 3.9 million ($3.1 million). As a share of GDP, BERD declined from 1.19% in 2013–14 to 1.01% in 2015–16.

Total business capital expenditures, which includes spending on land and infrastructure, fell 30% to AUD 861 million ($680.7 million), while current expenditure, which includes labor costs, dropped 10.7% to AUD 15.8 million ($12.5 million). Manufacturing made up the majority of BERD, representing AUD 3.9 million ($3.1 million), or around 23%, followed closely by professional, scientific and technical services’ contribution of AUD 3.6 million ($2.8 million), also approximately 23%. Along with mining as well as financial and insurance services, these four industries represented 77% of total BERD, with the largest decrease in BERD in the mining sector.

Regionally, New South Wales and Victoria had the highest levels of BERD, representing 39% and 26% of the nation’s total, respectively. The largest decrease in BERD took place in Queensland, which was down 28%, as well as Western Australia, in which BERD decreased 24%.

Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics