New Funding Directions for Australian Schools
19th April, 2013
As Australia’s state governments settle into 2013, new trends are emerging in school funding plans.
TAFE Funding good for Suppliers
22nd March, 2013
Shift in Government policy good for school suppliers
26th November, 2012
Changes are happening throughout the Australian education system on both national and state levels. While some schools gain autonomy and more say on how they are run via various political initiatives, others are merging or closing.
Faster payments to government suppliers
5th November, 2012
Last month, South Australia’s Minister for Finance Michael O’Brien announced new reforms to speed up payments to small businesses supplying the SA Government.
New funding model will give Principals the power to spend
27th September, 2012
Further to our article Putting decision-making powers in the hands of school leaders on 22nd June, Julia Gillard recently delivered the Government’s long-awaited official response to the Gonski school review. Supporting the review, Gillard called for a “national crusade” to improve the Australian educational system.
Government Procurement more moves than a game of chess
4th September, 2012
Recent changes to state government procurement show a focus on cutting red tape. In NSW, procurement reforms have been passed and the new NSW Procurement Board, headed by Director-General Michael Coutts-Trotter, has been put into place. Finance and Services Minister Greg Pearce said the changes will improve companies’ chances to pitch to the public sector.
NSW Government sacks 35% of ministerial staff
27th July, 2012
From April 1 to June 1, the O'Farrell government burned through 35 per cent of its ministerial staff since coming to office. These include chiefs of staff, policy advisors, secretaries, researchers and directors. According to the Bureau of Statistics, the national average for turnover of managers is 9.2 per cent per annum, putting the O’Farrell government 25.8 per cent above the national average.
Putting decision-making powers in the hands of school leaders
22nd June, 2012
The Federal Government has commenced a $480.5 million initiative that will decentralise decision-making in schools. The Empowering Local Schools Initiative is handing over responsibilities of financial and budget management to school boards and principals.
Latest Trend: Decentralised Decision-Making
2nd May, 2012
We have previously reported that there is a trend in Australian government to shift between the two philosophies of centralisation and decentralisation in cycles of approximately two to three years. True to form, centralisation has been dominant in the public sector for around two years. In that time, huge departmental mergers were enacted in several states – for example the NSW State Government move to merge 13 departments into nine “super departments”.
New Queensland Government
2nd April, 2012
The recent Queensland election sent shockwaves throughout the Sunshine state and the rest of the country, delivering a landslide victory to the Liberal National Party and a sheer bloodbath in the Labor camp. Out of the 89 seats in parliament, a whopping 78 have gone to LNP.
