Foreign Aid

The Principles

1. An equitable and just world is a safe and prosperous world. The goal of our overseas aid program is to create conditions to enable each human being to realise her/his potential for social, political, economic and spiritual fulfilment in a manner consistent with the common good.

2. Australia is a rich country and has a responsibility to help nations struggling for economic survival.

3. The effectiveness of foreign aid programs is dependent on the ability of these programs to address the root causes of poverty (not merely to operate as "band aid" programs).

4. The earning capacity of people in poverty is increased through an expansion of opportunity.

5. Empowerment of women and indigenous peoples is central to equality of opportunity.

6. Ecologically sustainable development is dependent upon protection and enhancement of the environment.

7. Pluralism and true democracy can only be achieved, especially by the poor, through their participation in economic and political decisions that affect their lives.

8. Aid is aid, not a soft loan. The primary focus of our overseas aid program must be the eradication of poverty.

The Issues

1. Foreign Aid has decreased from 0.65% of the Growth National Product (GNP) in 1975 to 0.27% in 1998. Between 1992 and 1998 Australia's aid budget dropped from 0.36% of Gross National Product (GNP) to 0.25% of GNP ( statistics from Oxfam )

2. Overall aid has fallen by over 11% during the past two terms of government (despite the pre-election promise that "coalition aid policy will include continued support for the U.N. goal of 0.7% of GNP"

3. Foreign aid is one of the areas most vulnerable to budget cuts as the government believes that there are few votes in this area. Yet in 1998 (when public donations to Australian Non-government Organisation (NGO) agencies rose by nearly 10%) a news poll survey reported that almost 90% of Australians supported overseas aid.

4. The budget surplus achieved in the past two years has been at the expense of Australia's and the world's poorest people. In dollar terms, our aid program costs each Australian approximately the cost of one loaf of bread a week.

5. Aid funding for basic social services (education, health care, family planning, water and sanitation) is critical for the reduction of poverty.

6. Contractual obligations (disguised as aid), with the primary aim of securing corporate markets and investments opportunities, ultimately cripple the host country and its citizens.

7. Foreign aid needs to respect the specific and articulated needs of the developing country.

Alternatives

1. To increase the funding of real, not disguised, aid to be paid for out of growth in revenues.

2. To address the crisis in Asia without jeopardising current and projected programs elsewhere.

3. To give priority in the aid program to basic education, low cost water and sanitation and primary health care, as affirmed at the Dakar Gathering of world leaders, including Australia, in April 2000.

4. To focus specifically on poverty reduction rather than on trade priorities or self-serving business deals.

5. To promote the transfer of appropriate technology that supports sustainable development. 6. To honour international intentions and our own commitment to fairness and equity as promised in the 1997 election campaign - 'an allocation of A$400 million by 2001 to programs that address basic human needs'. 7. To refrain from introducing soft loan schemes.