Budget win but there’s still a way to go

Following the Federal Budget announcement last Tuesday night we will now be seeing foreign aid spending increase by almost half a billion dollars. This is a massive win for campaigners like those at the Oaktree Foundation. But it is a much more important win for the countries and people who will now benefit from this increase in aid money and assistance.

The Oaktree Foundation has a special investment in many of the countries, including East Timor and Papua New Guinea, where this new money will be spent so we are fortunate enough to know already what foreign aid funding can achieve there. But isn’t it time EVERYONE knew it?

People always have plenty to say about the Budget. Especially in a year when we saw a hefty amount of cuts, a new flood levy and taxes, there are always those who will be ‘worse off’. The foreign aid budget is sometimes an easy target for criticism, especially when people aren’t exposed to where and why their hard-earned dollars are going offshore.

The idea of ‘blindly’ backing foreign aid spending by way of the bipartisan commitment that says we will increase aid to 0.5% of our gross national income by 2015 is one of the points of contention. But the reality is, the aid budget needs this protection. It needs it because we lose sight of how much foreign aid does achieve, and is achieving, in the often-overwhelming context of extreme global poverty.

It’s likely that we will face more opposition as the foreign aid budget grows to 0.5% over the next four years and there are people who will disagree with us as we campaign for 0.7%. But there is such value in these figures, and the money they represent. 0.7% would mean emerging generations in developing nations could be educated and have readily available food and clean water. More mothers and infants would survive pregnancy and childbirth. The spread of HIV/AIDS could be reduced and third-world sufferers might no longer face an almost certain premature and painful death.

The Federal Budget’s increase to foreign aid is something that we at Oaktree are celebrating. We congratulate the politicians that see the potential in foreign aid, both for Australia and for those recipient countries whose people are much less well off. Our goal, the global goal, for this money is long-term but it is achievable. And our commitment to foreign aid is just that – a commitment.