ÿþ<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/html401/loose.dtd"> <html> <head> <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1"> <title>2008&#8211;09 Commonwealth Budget - Overview</title> <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" media="all" href="../../../_stylesheet/content.css"> <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" media="all" href="../../../_stylesheet/layout.css"> <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" media="all" href="../../../_stylesheet/overview.css"> </head> <body> <div id="body_container"> <div id="overview_inner"> <div id="overview_masthead"> <h1>Funding for Australia's<br />future priorities</h1> <p class="description"> The Government is meeting its commitment to Australia's future by investing current and future budget surpluses in three nation building funds &#8209; the Building Australia Fund, the Education Investment Fund and the Health and Hospitals Fund &#8209; to finance roads, rail and ports, broadband, universities and TAFEs, and hospitals and health projects. </p> </div> <div id="overview_body_inner"> <div id="overview_content"> <p class="page-nav"> <a href="overview_06.htm"><img src="../../../_image/page_previous.gif" alt="&lt; previous page" /></a> <a href="index.htm"><img src="../../../_image/page_toc.gif" alt="contents and downloads" /></a> <a href="overview_08.htm"><img src="../../../_image/page_next.gif" alt="next page &gt;" /></a> </p> <div id="content_columns"> <div class="overview_col"> <p>The Government is taking a strategic approach to the investment of budget surpluses by creating three new funds. These funds will meet capital shortages in infrastructure, education and health. Initially, the Government will invest $40 billion in these priorities, largely from the 2007&#8209;08 and 2008&#8209;09 surpluses.</p> <p class="subheading">Building Australia Fund (BAF)</p> <p>Based on current estimates, the BAF will receive $20 billion over the next two years to fund shortfalls in national transport (roads, rails and ports) and broadband. The Communications Fund will be closed and its assets of $2.4 billion transferred to the BAF.</p> </div> <div class="overview_col"> <p class="subheading">Education Investment Fund (EIF)</p> <p>The Government will invest $5 billion to establish the EIF. The EIF will absorb and extend the Higher Education Endowment Fund, bringing total funding to around $11 billion. The EIF will fund capital expenditure in Australia's higher education institutions.</p> <p class="subheading">Health and Hospitals Fund (HHF)</p> <p>The Government will allocate $10 billion to the HHF to finance the renewal and refurbishment of the nation's hospitals and to fund major medical research facilities and projects.</p> <p class="subheading">Fund structure and management</p> <p>Each new fund will have its capital and earnings available for drawdown over</p> </div> <div class="overview_col"> <p>time after specific projects are identified. This substantially increases the financing available in coming years from these three funds.</p> <p>The assets of each fund will be managed by the Future Fund and invested in line with a mandate provided by Government. The Future Fund will receive $3.9 billion to help it fully offset the Government's superannuation liability by 2020.</p> <p class="subheading">COAG Reform Fund</p> <p>The Government will establish a COAG Reform Fund as a vehicle through which funds are transferred to the States from the BAF, EIF and HHF (for capital expenditure) or direct from the Budget (for recurrent expenditure on COAG reforms).</p> </div> </div> <div class="graph_image_top"> <div> <div class="graph_img"> <img src="../image/BO7_01.gif" alt="Chart: Making provision for future priorities" /> </div> <div class="graph_text"> <p>Making provision for future priorities</p> </div> </div> </div> <p class="page-nav bottom_page"> <a href="overview_06.htm"><img src="../../../_image/page_previous.gif" alt="&lt; previous page" /></a> <a href="index.htm"><img src="../../../_image/page_toc.gif" alt="contents and downloads" /></a> <a href="overview_08.htm"><img src="../../../_image/page_next.gif" alt="next page &gt;" /></a> </p> </div> <div id="overview_footer"> <p id="footer_text"> <span id="footer_pageNum">7</span> <span id="footer_docTitle">2008-09 Budget <span class="orangeText">Overview</span></span> </p> </div> </div> </div> </div> </body> </html>