Budget cuts savage foreign aid

#1074 for broadcast on 2CH Sydney, 17 May 2015

This week’s $1 billion budget cut to foreign aid is still less than half of the $2.5 billion diesel subsidy the Abbott government gifts the mining industry each year.

One would have thought saving the lives of the poorest people on earth was a higher priority than rewarding some of Australia’s biggest companies.

But it’s not all bad news. As my colleague, the Reverend Scott Higgins, observed, aid levels are returning to what they were decades ago as a proportion of national income; our politicians have a far greater awareness of what makes for good foreign aid; and there have been many advances in recent years in our foreign aid programs. He says:

Now is not the time to give up. We need to keep advocating for more aid and better aid … convincing our fellow citizens that money spent on well targeted aid is one of the best things we will ever do together.

I’m Rod Benson for the NSW Council of Churches.