DAVID ADAMS asks Martin Thomas, head of public affairs at World Vision Australia, some of the questions you want answered about Tuesday’s budget and foreign aid…
Martin Thomas, head of public affairs at World Vision Australia, addresses some of the questions you want answered about Tuesday’s budget and foreign aid…
What’s all the fuss – after all, hasn’t the aid just been delayed a year?
“It has been delayed by a year and I think we’re trying to acknowledge that there has been an increase – and that’s important – but when you look at the actual difference, over four years there’ll be $2.9 billion that essentially won’t be available for the aid budget. And that means…programs that in some cases save lives, in other cases put kids in schools, vaccinations, food, agriculture – all these programs that really make a massive difference in people’s lives and what we’re so proud of in the aid budget – just won’t be able to happen because that money won’t be there in the next four years.”
“We haven’t officially heard from the Coalition (about their position on the delay of aid) but in a parliament that was…quite vitriolic, bipartisanship on aid – on the 0.5 question – has been quite amazing. It’s been terrific that it’s held out so long. The tragedy of this budget is that it’s broken.” |
How do you calculate the impact the delay of foreign aid will have on the world’s poor?
“There is one calculation which we have been using, which is to say: if you look at this $2.9 billion…(and) if we say that on average 20 per cent of that money would go towards just health outcomes – and that seems a reasonable kind of rule of thumb – we’re saying that it basically could have saved about 290,000 lives through health programs.”
Why is 2015 such a significant date?
“When world leaders came together to create the Millennium Development Goals (in 2000), they said that at a point in time we want to increase aid to, well it was 0.7 (per cent of gross national income) back then, we’ve already compromised with 0.5, and this is a plan that will help us by 2015 to halve poverty. They were looking at a whole range of issues along those Millennium Development Goals such as getting kids into schools, reducing the number of deaths in childbirth, but it was an agreement that was almost unprecedented…The Millennium Development Goals have been criticised as a kind of unilateral figure plucked out of the air, but what it has done is its given us a measure to look at progress in combating poverty and to assess where different countries are going well and where they’re going bad. We won’t meet them all but at least it’s helped us measure it and show us where we need to put more resources. So, there is no magic around 2015 but it’s something that every country within the UN agreed to in 2000.”
Following Tuesday night’s announcement, how does Australia’s foreign aid now stand in global terms?
“They measure it against gross national income, as a percentage, and there’s 23 rich nations in the OECD which give aid. (O)ur current giving is… 0.35 per cent, so less than one per cent of our gross national income. Now on that basis we are 13th out of 23 OECD countries. Aid is actually for the first time in 14 years trending down. There’s been a big push for donor (countries) to increase aid and Australia’s been a part of that but with the financial crisis in Europe we’re actually now seeing aid trending down. But we would say that once they reach that commitment in 2016-17 now, which would get our aid to 0.5 (per cent), we’ll still probably only rank about 10th. What’s interesting is that studies have shown we’re actually one or two in terms of private donations people give and we’d say that’s kind of reflective that people really care about this: they give their own money, they sponsor children, they do these things because they care about global poverty…and we think people also care about what the government gives because the government giving can make so much more of a difference in many respects.”
Is there a danger now that it has been decided to put back Australia’s foreign aid commitment a year, the same thing will happen again next year?
“I think it was said very eloquently on Budget night – as part of the briefing someone made the point that a pledge delayed is one that can more easily be broken. So I think it does set an unusual precedent. We have tried to praise the government for still increasing aid, particularly at a time when the budget’s tight, but essentially what is really depressing is the breaking down of what was a bipartisan commitment. We haven’t officially heard from the Coalition (about their position on the delay of aid) but in a parliament that was…quite vitriolic, bipartisanship on aid – on the 0.5 question – has been quite amazing. It’s been terrific that it’s held out so long. The tragedy of this budget is that it’s broken.”
You mentioned that there was a positive side to it as well – there is some good news for the world’s poor in the Federal Budget?
“There is. Look, there is a $300 million increase on the previous year – we understand that the government was looking for a surplus and that every part of the budget had to be looked at, so we’re thankful that that’s survived. There are some really interesting programs that have been launched as part of the budget – they’ve talked about getting something like 70 per cent of our aid into the Asia-Pacific region and we’re highly supportive of that; there’s a big funding increase for Burma now that Burma’s becoming more free and open and we think that’s an excellent thing; and there’s a lot more money also in this budget for emergency responses – to make sure Australia’s better at giving emergency aid but also (for) particular countries and communities to be more prepared and better prepared when disaster strikes.”
Lastly, is this now set in stone? Is there anyone people can lobby – or should be lobbying – or is this now done and dusted and nothing can be done from here?
“Well, it’s in the realm of politics so I don’t think it’s ever done and dusted. We’ve been encouraging our supporters and we’ve seen massive spikes around the social media on this issue, so people really care. We’re encouraging people to continue to talk to both the government and the Opposition and just let them know how important this is. We remember the former aid minister, Bob McMullin, who said, years ago when the government cut aid, ‘We were shocked. There wasn’t a whimper. There’s no backlash, particularly from churches, anywhere’. And he said that we have to make sure that if there’s ever a cut – and this time it’s not a cut, but a backdown on a promise – (make sure) that there’s a big backlash so that the politicians know that this is an important issue.”
