It’s a pity that Australia’s ongoing emergency aid to people in acute need in other nations was tainted by the Prime Minister’s Aceh remark earlier this year.
In February Tony Abbott said that Indonesia should ‘reciprocate’ for Australia’s $1 billion aid package after the 2004 tsunami by sparing the lives of death row inmates Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran. The extensively reported comment caused immediate offence to Indonesians, but more importantly damaged our reputation as a global Good Samaritan.
What are we going to do now that Vanuatu has been devastated by Cyclone Pam? The people and government need our help but they may wonder what strings are attached to our $5 million initial commitment and promised follow up assistance in the form of medical staff and rescue personnel.
There’s not a lot we can do in the short term, other than hope that the Prime Minister might lead us in some national soul-searching about our humanitarian obligations and what it means to reach out to other nations in need with a spirit of generosity that is not disingenuous.
That is most unlikely because he is the leader of a government that has cut $11 billion from Australia’s aid budget in the last year alone. Foreign aid was the largest saving in last year’s budget and the cuts reflect what the Government, and by implication the Australian people, really think about assisting vulnerable people in other countries.
Late last year, Caritas Australia CEO Paul O’Callaghan said the decisiveness of the cuts represented a major about face for Australia, implying that we are becoming a nation that had turned in on itself and become indifferent to the needs of other nations. He suggested that we have turned away from six decades of playing a constructive leadership role in our region.
‘Every previous Coalition government has expanded Australia’s role as an international player through overseas aid and development. This has been a key reason that Australia is regarded as a significant contributor in the region and globally,’ he said.
In terms of OECD rankings. Australia’s contributions to overseas aid are now at their lowest level ever since OECD records began in 1954. Australia is the third wealthiest country on a per capita basis in the world, yet we will now slide to around 20th position as a contributor to international development.
Aside from the ‘reciprocity’ expectation articulated by the Prime Minister with regard to Aceh, and the massive aid budget