Link between aid cuts and lives lost

#1108 for broadcast on 2CH Sydney, 2 August 2015

According to Professor Alan Lopez of the University of Melbourne, an analysis of data on aid spending, which appeared in the medical journal The Lancet earlier this year, estimates that Australian Aid has directly resulted in the saving of 230,000 lives in the past 15 years.

By any measure, one might expect such a policy outcome to indicate that Australia’s levels of aid and development are highly effective and should perhaps be increased.

But the Abbott government has instead made savage cuts to Australia’s overseas aid program, amounting to $11 billion over five years, including a 20 per cent cut this year – the single biggest cut in the nation’s history.

Professor Lopez says he’s concerned by recent cuts to Australia’s aid budget, and his research should help concerned politicians and aid organisations make a better case for strengthening our commitment to foreign aid.

God help us to be a more generous and compassionate global citizen.

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