Australia’s Aid Slide Must Be Reversed: World Vision

Wednesday, April 12, 2017

World Vision Australia has today called on the Australian Government to re-assert the role of international aid in its upcoming 10-year foreign policy strategy, as new aid data released overnight by the OECD shows Australia has slipped from 16th to 17th amongst the 29 wealthy OECD nations that provide aid.

“Australia’s Foreign Policy White Paper that is currently being drafted is the perfect opportunity to re-affirm the unique and vital role that aid plays in Australia’s foreign policy strategy,” said World Vision Australia chief advocate Tim Costello.

The Australian Government recently concluded consultation into the Foreign Policy White Paper, the first of its kind in 13 years. Public submissions including World Vision Australia’s were recently made public.

“Given the vital role that aid plays, the importance of showing strong leadership will set us on the right course for the next 10-20 years,” Mr Costello said.

“The upcoming Federal Government White Paper on foreign policy is a once-in-generation opportunity to elevate our aid and development program to be a core asset of Australia's foreign policy recognising the important role it plays in Australia’s trade, diplomatic and security interests.”
Mr Costello noted that Australia’s export and import markets contributed more than 40 per cent of Australia’s GDP in 2016-17.

“Australia’s aid and development policies can make a critical contribution to increasing trade capacity within developing countries and emerging markets, which helps Australian businesses with critical trade and investment opportunities,” he said.

“Today’s aid recipients could be tomorrow’s trading partners if we act now.”
World Vision Australia has a long partnership with government in innovative aid programming in our region and globally.

“Australia’s aid investments in promoting peace and strengthening governance play a critical role in building stability and security in our region,” Mr Costello said.

“Our region is also one of the most vulnerable to natural disasters and our investment’s in humanitarian response and disaster risk reduction empower our neighbours to recover and rebuild.”

Mr Costello expressed disappointment that Australia’s aid ranking has continued to slip, noting that the UK had recently recognised aid as a core asset and elevated its investment.

At a time of unprecedented humanitarian need, global aid has risen in recent years, increasing by 8.9 per cent to a new peak of US$142.6 billion in 2016.

“Aid and development empowers whole communities to reduce poverty,” Mr Costello said. “Aid investment is not only the right thing to do, it is also an investment in the world we all live in.”

For Tim Costello interview, please contact Stuart Rintoul 0407-241492

Picture: Drought, Turkana, Kenya, April, 2017.

Media Releases, Drought, Foreign Aid, Kenya

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