DAVID ADAMS reports…
Aid groups have called on the Turnbull Government to “stop the clock” and reverse a scheduled $224 million cut to Australia’s foreign aid budget.
The move comes as Federal Treasurer Scott Morrison prepares to hand down his first federal budget early next month.
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‘Doc Emmet Brown’ joins protestors calling on Federal Treasurer Scott Morrison to “Stop the clock” on scheduled cuts to Australia’s foreign aid budget. PICTURE: Micah Australia “If we want to stop our nation becoming the least generous we’ve ever been, our time is running out.”– Ben Thurley, Micah Australia |
Advocates from the Campaign for Australian Aid – a joint initiative of the Make Poverty History and Micah networks, Micah Australia, TEAR Australia and Baptist World Aid joined last week in staging a protest outside Mr Morrison’s office in Cronulla, Sydney.
Volunteers held up giant clocks as an actor dressed up as ‘Doc’ Emmet Brown from Back to the Future series arrived in a DeLorean car to deliver the message, “Great Scott, stop the clock”.
Ben Thurley, Micah Australia’s national coordinator, said that while the protest was a “bit of fun”, “the reality is much more serious”.
“Aid organisations, along with 1.59 million supporters, are calling on the Government to stop the clock and reverse the final scheduled $224 million cut to the aid budget…” he said.
“If we want to stop our nation becoming the least generous we’ve ever been, our time is running out.”
Mr Thurley said the cut to the foreign aid budget would result in fewer children in poorer countries being vaccinated and enrolled in school, fewer people having access to safe water and less life-saving assistance for vulnerable men, women and children in conflict and crisis situations.
Earlier in the week, World Vision CEO Tim Costello, joining in calls for the final scheduled budget cuts to foreign aid not to go ahead, said Australia’s foreign aid was “an investment in reducing global poverty, in strengthening democracy, and providing health as well as education for the world’s poor”.
“A third of the budget has been cut in the past two years, negatively impacting some of the poorest people in the world – children’s schooling, basic health care such as immunisations, HIV/AIDS prevention and sanitation have all been affected,” he said.
The calls come after unprecedented cuts were announced to the Australian foreign aid budget in December, 2014, by the then Abbott Government. These cuts, some of which have already been implemented, will see aid fall to 0.22 per cent of gross national income (GNI) in 2017-2018, a record low level for Australia and well below the 0.7 per cent of GNI which had been a target under the Millennium Development Goals.
