The focus of the spend would be on IT industry research and development (R&D), education and dissuading cash-strapped Australian innovators from leaving the country, government officials said.
The fixed sum - which Industry Minister Nick Minchin said would be spent over five years regardless of the country's economic climate during that time - would see the creation of an additional 2000 university places each year, and would see all research grants, administered by the Australian Research Council (ARC), doubled.
Almost AU$1 billion would be allocated in loans to students enrolling in high tech university courses, officials said.
Minchin said the five-year commitment was based on -very conservative" budget surplus estimates, despite previous warnings from Prime Minister Howard that the economy was likely to slow.
-Forward estimates indicate healthy surpluses in the forward years. We've made a commitment of AU$2.9 million of that," Senator Minchin said.
-This is locked in."
The spend would encourage a further AU$6 billion in private industry spending over that time, he said.
The shell-out also falls under the portfolios of IT minister Richard Alston and Education Minister, David Kemp.
Senator Alston rejected criticisms that Australia's IT industry was a global follower, rather than a leader. However, he admitted the country's IT economy was still heavily fuelled by the low-end consumer market.
-Being a user in itself doesn't necessarily get you there. Being a low-level consumer is very different from being a high-end business user. What we're really doing is supplementing a lot of that activity," he said.
IT budget breakdown
The government's -Backing Australia's Ability" package includes promises to spend AU$2.9 billion in surplus cash across the industry over five years. Some key spending areas follow:
- AU$736 million in additional funding for Australian Research Council grants
AU$583 million towards research infrastructure funding - Adding AU$535 million to the existing R&D Start program
- Boosting the R&D tax concession to 175 percent on all additional R&D activity
- AU$151 million to universities to create 2000 additional places each year with priorities given to IT, mathematics and science
- $AU130 million toward development of IT, mathematics and science in government schools
- Adding AU$535 million to the existing R&D Start program
Last week, Labor leader Kim Beazley unveiled one of his key planks - a visionary University of Australia Online, the foundation stone of his so-called Knowledge Nation.
