DAVID ADAMS reports on reaction to the announcement of more cuts to Australia’s foreign aid budget…
Christian groups have joined with humanitarian agencies in condemning the announcement on Monday that a further $3.7 billion will be cut from the Federal Government’s foreign aid budget over the next four years.
The news follows the earlier announcement of $7.6 billion in cuts and takes the total amount now taken from the foreign aid budget to $11.3 billion.
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THE IMPACTMicah Challenge estimates of the difference the new cuts will make over the next four years (based on the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade 2014-15 Annual Report):• 600,000 fewer births being attended by a skilled birth attendant over the next four years.• 900,000 fewer children enrolled in school• 1.5 million fewer children vaccinated• 1.9 million fewer people provided with access to safe water, and• 8.8 million fewer vulnerable women, men, girls and boys provided with life-saving assistance in conflict and crisis situations. |
Micah Challenge Australia – part of an international movement of Christians speaking out against poverty and injustice in support of the Millennium Development Goals – described the cuts as “unprecedented” and said that when they come into full effect in 2017-18, Australia’s development assistance will fall to just 21 cents for every $100 of national income – its lowest ever recorded level.
“We find it absolutely disgraceful that for the third time in 15 months the Abbott Government has broken its promises on aid and turned to our poorest neighbors to find their budget savings,” said Ben Thurley, political engagement coordinator for the group.
Micah Challenge estimated the cuts – announced by Treasurer Joe Hockey in his Mid-Year Economic and Fiscal Outlook on Monday – will result in 600,000 fewer births being attended by a skilled birth attendant over the next four years.
They say they will also mean 900,000 fewer children enrolled in school over the same period along with 1.5 million fewer children vaccinated, 1.9 million fewer people provided with access to safe water, and 8.8 million fewer vulnerable women, men, girls and boys provided with life-saving assistance in conflict and crisis situations.
Tim Costello, chief executive of World Vision Australia, said the decision was a breach of faith with the Australian people and the world’s poorest.
“When is this madness going to stop?” he asked, describing the $11.3 billion “siphoned off” over the past year as an “outrageous sum of money for a wealthy country to deny vulnerable people”.
“This decision by the government shows they are totally out of touch with not only Australian values, but also with what’s happening in the world today.”
World Vision has estimated that the cuts will mean Australia is giving 0.22 per cent of gross national income in overseas aid – around a third of that given by the UK and far below the 0.65 per cent Australia gave in the 1970s.
Catholic aid and development agency Caritas Australia says the decision represents a “significant turning away” from six decades of playing a constructive leadership role in the region.
Paul O’Callaghan, chief executive of Caritas Australia, said that for the hundreds of thousands of Australian Catholics, the decision represented “an abandoning of the region’s poorest people”.
“These additional cuts will undermine Australia’s capacity to promote health, prosperity and security for our region,” he said. “For tens of millions of poor people in neighboring countries, Australia’s aid program has made a very real difference and has enabled many countries to achieve higher levels of economic growth and prosperity stability.”
~ www.micahchallenge.org.au
~ www.worldvision.com.au
~ www.caritas.org.au
