A Visionary Budget Would Invest in Aid

Friday, May 5, 2017

World Vision is calling for Australian aid to be prioritised in next week’s Federal Budget, as a reflection of Australia’s priorities and values.

“Australia’s prosperity is tied to global challenges so now more than ever we need a federal budget with a global vision,” said Chief Advocate Tim Costello.

“The increasing scale, frequency and impact of natural disasters in our region combined with the devastation of humanitarian crises around the world, means that global gap between needs and funding has never been greater.

“If Australia is going to live up to its spirit of compassion and generosity, it must do its fair share and double the Emergency Fund to $260 million.

“If we’re not too short-sighted we can save lives and money by also investing more in prevention. A visionary budget would recognise that every dollar we invest in building the resilience of our neighbours will save us between $2-80 in the post-disaster response.

“Investing in aid is not just a moral imperative, prioritising an investment in aid is also in Australia’s interests.

“Building the trade capacity of developing countries in our region is as much in our interest as theirs, which means we should invest more in the Aid for Trade program. A visionary budget would recognise that if we support the missing middle, today’s aid recipients can become tomorrow’s trading partners.

“Nationals MP, Andrew Broad recently said that what we do in aid defines who we want to be as a people.  We have certainly learned a lot about Theresa May from the way she has protected UK’s commitment to their aid budget.

“We will learn a lot about Malcolm Turnbull and his government from the kind of budget that is released on Tuesday. Will it be a visionary budget that reflects Australia’s values and reverses the trend of cuts to aid in previous years, or will it continue to be short-sighted?”

Read World Vision Australia’s full pre-budget submission

 

 

Contact: Leah Swann 0421 857 591

Picture: Adol, 7 years, South Sudan. Adol can’t stretch his leg and walks with a stick. It took him an hour to get to the food distribution. World Vision is distributing throughout South Sudan. At this particular site, 500 households 3,500 people) were targeted in one day; many walked for hours to get there.

worldvision.com.au/eastafrica

 

 

 

 

 

 

Media Releases, Africa, Budget Cuts, Drought, East Africa, Economic Development, Foreign Aid, South Sudan, Tim Costello, World Vision

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