Government accused of using the foreign aid budget as 'an automatic teller machine'
NGOs and aid organisations are lining up to express their disappointment at further cuts to Australia's aid budget, announced by treasurer Chris Bowen in the government's pre-election economic statement on Friday afternoon.
The overall aid budget will be cut by $879m over the forward estimates and an additional $420m will be diverted from the existing funds to Papua New Guinea as part of the asylum seeker policy deal.
Bowen said the government would still meet its foreign aid targets of 0.5% of gross national income by 2017/18 "but we'll get there in a different profile".
Aid spending will still increase overall by 26% but these most recent cuts to growth come on top of May's federal budget announcement that the government would push the 0.5% target back from 2016/17 – which had itself been pushed back from a 2015/16 target in the previous year's budget.
Aid organisations have criticised the decision, accusing the government of using the foreign aid budget as an automatic teller machine.
"Every time we cut our promised aid spending, it means more people will have to wait even longer to access essentials such as clean water, better healthcare and education," said Oxfam's acting public policy and advocacy manager, Kelly Dent.
"The purpose of Australia's overseas aid budget is to fight poverty. It is not an ATM for the government to meet its domestic financial commitments."
Nigel Spence, CEO of ChildFund Australia, said the budget announcement was "deeply disappointing".
"Australian aid is making a huge difference globally. Delaying and diverting aid takes opportunity away from children and families in poor communities around the world. We are extremely concerned that aid money is being retracted to implement an asylum seeker policy that is contrary to humanitarian principles," Spence told Guardian Australia.
Unicef Australia on Twitter labelled the announcement "a broken promise" from Kevin Rudd, claiming the total cuts to aid since 2010 now added up to $5.8bn.
CEO of Save The Children Australia, Paul Ronalds, said the cuts to aid growth meant every dollar spent must now work harder to ensure "that we squeeze even more life-saving bang for buck".
"While we are disappointed that Australian funding for overseas has slowed, it is important to acknowledge that both major parties remain committed to investing 0.5 per cent of GNI on overseas aid," he said.
The government's mini budget announcement also outlined details of the additional aid being given to PNG as part of the asylum seeker policy deal made between Rudd and PNG prime minister Peter O'Neil.
PNG will get $420m from the foreign aid budget, targeting specific projects already mostly revealed on Thursday after O'Neill gave a speech to the University of PNG.
Australia will contribute $207m to upgrading Lae hospital, $62m towards fixing the national university, $19m on courts, prisons and justice, $800,000 scoping for a new highway, and deploy 50 AFP officers at a cost of $132m.
The $420m is on top of the money already spent on PNG in the aid budget. The nation will also receive $18m over the next four years for "law and order".
AusAid programs worth $236m will see their funding shifted to community housing for asylum seekers over the next four years.
