Labor welcomes moves to review foreign aid, but the Morrison Government must rule out making further cuts to Australia’s international development program in the Mid-Year Economic and Fiscal Outlook.
Since coming to office the Coalition has cut $11.8 billion from official development assistance, meaning Australia’s foreign aid as a share of national income is at the lowest on record.
Not only is this hurting some of the poorest countries in the world, it is also damaging to our regional security interests.
For example the Morrison Government’s signature foreign aid policy, the Pacific Step Up, has diverted $500 million from the existing aid budget, meaning bilateral aid to Pakistan has dried up.
And the Minister for International Development and the Pacific, Alex Hawke, has been unable to justify why.
When asked on Radio National this morning why Australia was cutting bilateral aid to Pakistan, a country with a frontline role in the war against terrorism, Mr Hawke first said Australia continued to support Pakistan through multilateral aid, then said there was some money in the forward estimates for Pakistan, then admitted priorities had changed, then said that programs had come to an end, then finally admitted “we have a limited budget”.
“It’s not a deliberate decision to remove large amounts of money out of Pakistan … Our priorities have shifted,” Mr Hawke said.
The cuts in aid to Pakistan not only mean the Government is scrapping successful Australian programs to support girls to continue their education and to reduce violence against women and children – they are also incredibly short sighted when it comes to the importance of Pakistan in a regional security context.
Overseas aid is not only the right thing to do; it is in Australia’s interests. It improves Australia’s economic prosperity and national security by fostering a more stable and secure international environment.
Any genuine review of Australian foreign aid must start by ending the cuts.