Australia vs. Switzerland - comparison between the role of governments in health, education and welfare (with stats)

Essay by StephiHigh School, 11th gradeA+, June 2005

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Similarities and Differences in The Role of Government in healthcare, education and welfare payments

The Government systems in Australia and Switzerland consist of many similarities and differences regarding the issue of healthcare, eduction and welfare payments. This includes the amount of expenditure, provided by capital revenue (eg. interest on stocks owned by Government, loan repayment and Capital Grants) and current revenue (eg. taxes and state owned enterprises), which is directed towards the health, education and welfare systems, as well as the Government role/levels of participation involved. The Swiss Government allocates expenditures from tax under a system called the Fiscal Policy, where funding is provided for current spending such as healthcare, education, defence and welfare payments, and capital spending such as schools, hospitals and roads. In Australia, the Federal Government, or Commonwealth Government, along with the State Governments are responsible for allocating and managing funds to these aspects of the Australian economy (ie.

Education, health and welfare)

Education:

Both Switzerland and Australia have a well-developed education system, where literacy levels are considered extremely high on a global scale. Both Governments are actively involved in providing funding and making decisions in regards to the education system. Figure 1.1 shows the level of Government expenditure in Switzerland and Australia.

Fig 1.1- Government Expenditure on education (1998-2000)

Governments play a role in education by providing funding that goes towards capital expenditures (ie. Repairing, construction, renovations etc) and things such as staff salaries/benefits, services, books, teaching materials, welfare services, furniture/equipment, insurance, rents, telecommunication and travel. The Government expenditure on eduction is relatively similar in both countries. However there are significant differences between which levels of education that this funding is actually spent on. In Fig. 1.1, we can see that Switzerland places a greater priority on primary levels of education, and less on secondary...