ChildFund Australia welcomes Labor’s announcement today that it will reverse the $224m cut made in this year’s budget if it wins the July election, ChildFund Australia CEO Nigel Spence says.
“The recent budget cut to the aid program has reduced Australia’s support to developing countries to the lowest level in our history. I commend Shadow Minister for Foreign Affairs Tanya Plibersek for her decision to overturn this final blow, which comes after years of budget cuts by both sides of politics.
“However, we believe that this should just be the first step of many by whichever party wins Government. A substantial change in government policy is required if we are to reduce poverty, increase economic prosperity and fight the negative impacts of climate change within our region and beyond.”
Since 2013, $11bn has been taken out of Australia’s overseas development assistance budget, while also increasingly being used to defray domestic costs such as asylum seeker programs. At its height in 2012-13, the aid budget was equivalent to $240 per Australian. Today, we are spending just $157 per Australian on aid each year.
Mr Spence said: “Last year, the single biggest cut to the aid program took place – funding was reduced by $1bn and diminished the total aid budget by 20 per cent, despite the fact that the challenges facing many children and families in the Asia-Pacific region have increased.”
While life-threatening poverty is reducing, with the Millennium Development Goals playing an important role in this progress, pockets of extreme poverty remain, and organisations like ChildFund, working at grassroots, are witness to the rising inequalities within nations.
Mr Spence said: “In many of the countries where ChildFund works, we are seeing new risks to children emerge, while existing threats have grown stronger. Today, we have the highest number of displaced people, and extreme weather events due to global warming are resulting in more humanitarian emergencies.”
ChildFund Australia now calls on the Coalition Government to match or improve upon Labor’s aid policy. It also urges political representatives to work together to reach consensus on the future direction of the Australian aid program.
Mr Spence said: “Improving the living standards of families in our region is not just the morally right thing to do, it has real benefits for Australia – greater peace and stability, new trading markets for Australian businesses, and improved relations with our nearest neighbours.
“Regardless of who wins the election, we want to see bipartisan support for restoring our life-saving aid program, and ensuring future aid policies and funding provides predictable, effective and long-term support.”
Sydney, Australia, 3 May 2016: ChildFund Australia is deeply disappointed that Australia’s life-saving aid program will fall to its lowest funding levels ever, after Treasurer Scott Morrison failed to reverse a scheduled cut of $224m in handing down his first budget tonight.
Nigel Spence, CEO of ChildFund Australia, said: “It is extremely disappointing that the Treasurer has failed to act upon statements he made in his maiden speech to Parliament about strengthening Australia’s response to the world’s poor. In fact, today’s announcement sees him making even deeper cuts to an already decimated aid budget.
“For the first time in our history, Australia will dedicate just 0.23 per cent of its gross national income to programs which deliver real and tangible improvements to children and families living in some of the world’s poorest communities.
“We are now in a position where we are spending more on one submarine for our defence program than on our entire aid program. Given the vital role of aid in building peace and prosperity in our region, this is seriously unbalanced.”
This latest decision follows a series of devastating cuts to the Overseas Development Assistance (ODA) budget under the Abbott government, which has seen $11.3bn wiped from the aid program over five years. Last year, a 20 per cent reduction of $1bn was the biggest cut ever made to the Australian aid budget in a single year.
For organisations like ChildFund, this has meant scaling back or not going ahead with vital aid projects for children and families in countries throughout the Asia-Pacific and Africa.
Mr Spence said: “We have to realise these cuts have a significant human cost for some of the most vulnerable children and families in our region and beyond. We’ve had to cut education projects, child protection projects and an innovative global education program that was building bridges between children in Australia and developing countries throughout Asia.”
Foreign Minister Julie Bishop has committed Australia’s support to the Global Goals for Sustainable Development, which include new targets to end extreme poverty, fight inequality and fix climate change. As such, it is now essential that bi-partisan agreement be reached on the future direction of our aid program.
“We have not had certainty or predictability in government funding for a number of years now, which is critical for delivering effective aid programs,” said Mr Spence. “If we are serious about addressing the challenges facing our region – poverty, rising inequality, extreme weather events, increased mobility and displacement – we need a solid plan for the Australian aid program that recognises the value of investing in our global neighbourhood.”
With a federal election looming, ChildFund Australia is calling on both sides of politics to restore and repair the aid budget, and recommit to our promise to help the world’s poor.
Mr Spence added: “This election is an opportunity for all parties to present their overseas development policies, particularly for the two major parties to show a positive and progressive commitment to aid. Other countries worse off than Australia are increasing their aid budget at a time when we are slashing ours to an historic low. It is time to turn this around so we can regain momentum on important aid projects that ultimately bring greater peace and prosperity for all of us.”
