Last night's Federal Budget focused heavily on economic recovery following the pandemic.

Given the high levels of debt being incurred to support the economy, it was pleasing to see there was not any reduction in recurrent spending in the non-government schools sector.

In fact, owing to the introduction of the Direct Measure of Income into the funding calculation for each school, the government expects to increase recurrent funding by an additional $41.2 million over the next five years.

I was also pleased to see the Student Support Package announced in the Budget which aims to support vulnerable and disadvantaged students over the next five years. A portion of the package is also devoted to enhancing STEM skills.

We have provided Catholic School Authorities with a Budget overview today and a breakdown of the education-related announcements. All the details are available in Circular 2020/103.