The purpose of this report is to research the role of the Australian government in education. Over the last 30 years, governance of Australian schooling has become increasingly decentralised due to the belief that school autonomy leads to better responsiveness to problems and to higher quality.
Like most advanced economies there is universal free education in Australia though parents must pay for school supplies. Around one-third (31%) of students attend private schools which a majority have a religious affliction.

According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) Australia spends 5.1% of their nations GDP on education which accounts for under 6% of the economy which is more than most other economies. This provides $9,271 per primary students and $12,193 per secondary student. The commonwealth government contributes $29 million on education, State level and local governments contributes $52,780m on education which is significantly higher than the commonwealth governments expenditure. Intra-sector transfers were $25,481m. In 2012-13
$40,625m (51%) was spent on primary and secondary education and a further $29,097m (37%) on tertiary education. Furthermore $4.4m was spent on Pre-school and $1.3m on transportation for students. Additionally expenditure on education by all levels of government increased $3,711m from $75,852m in 2011-12 to $79,563m in 2012-13 which is an increase of 5% of the education budget. The Australian governments funding of education is above average