Australia’s current contribution is approximately $3.2 billion. At current levels Australia gives about 0.32% of Gross National Income (GNI) to overseas aid and development - money that is managed and administered via AusAID.

All Australians contribute to Australia’s aid program. According to AusAID, “every week, each of us puts in around $2.40 to pay for our aid program - about the cost of a loaf of bread a week. This amounts to around 1% of Federal Government expenditure compared to the 42% spent on social security and welfare.”

Extreme poverty presents the world with an enormous challenge! Images of continuing famine and disease can cause us to wonder whether there has been any progress at all.

We are talking about a problem that affects more than 1 billion people! So naturally, despite the millions of dollars that have already been given, there is still so much work to be done.

But there have been tremendous successes. Consider HIV and AIDS prevention. Aid programs are delivering vital education and increasing access to anti-retroviral treatment so that more than 250 000 lives were saved in the last two years!

Development funds have also assisted communities access clean water, better hygiene and oral rehydration therapy. In 1980, 4.6 million children were dying from diarrhoea every year. This death toll decreased to only 1.5 million in 2000.

No one can deny that these outcomes are positive. So just imagine what could be achieved if we gave 0.7% instead of just 0.32.

We are talking about 70c for every $100. This is money that allows countries to provide health care, education, infrastructure and other development activities to improve the lives of hundreds of millions.

And we promised!

For the past 30 years successive Australian governments have re-stated our pledge to meet the 0.7% GNI ODA target. Ironically, Australia’s commitment has been falling since the 1970’s.

In 2000 on the eve of the new Millennium we stood together with 191 other countries in support of the 8 Millennium Development Goals and pledged:

“We will spare no effort to free our fellow men, women and children from the abject and dehumanising conditions of extreme poverty, to which more than a billion of them are currently subjected.”

Our continued prosperity is intertwined with the rest of the world. Some of our neighbours in Asia and the Pacific live without many of the human rights we enjoy just a short plane-trip away.

Australia is an island of affluence in a sea of relative poverty. If we get this right, we may have the opportunity to build new trading relationships and economic partnerships.

For a start, the pacific is one of the poorest regions in the world, right on our doorstep. Instability in the region affects us, either because we are forced to intervene, such as in the Solomon Islands, or because the instability can spread and threaten our interests. However, if we can encourage stability and development in the region, Australia can benefit through increased opportunities for trade.

Another reason is the potential for health problems to spread to Australia. Poverty encourages the spread of disease and diseases don’t respect borders! New Guinea, just 150km away from the Australian mainland, is struggling with an AIDS epidemic. Drug resistant tuberculosis is also becoming an increasing worry in developing nations, with one study estimating that a third of all multi-drug resistant tuberculosis cases in the world occur in the Western Pacific region [1].

So, regardless of whether you think it’s the right thing to do or because you believe in protecting Australia’s interests, there are good reasons to help our neighbours.

Ignoring poverty won’t help solve corruption. People who are poor and hungry have a hard time asserting their rights and fighting for better governance.

Effective aid can bypass corruption or even help reduce it.

Thailand is a success story. Improved health and education has spurred economic growth which helps strengthen rule of law and allow the people to flight corruption. Mali – one of the poorest countries in the world is one of the least corrupt. Other positive stories include Mozambique and Rwanda.

Creativity is possible. For example, there are fantastic AIDS NGOs working in Kenya, Zimbabwe and other countries with corrupt central governments. These NGOs provide effective and efficient treatment and care for people who desperately need it.

And the ugly truth is that developed countries have contributed to corruption at times. Approximately US$80 billion per year in bribes is paid by international companies seeking to do business in developing countries! Australian mining companies have extracted resources from neighbouring countries while giving little back to local communities. So it hardly seems fair to turn our back on the issue now.

Australian aid goes to many countries throughout the region such as East Timor, the Solomon Islands and Papua New Guinea as well as far away nations such as Ghana and Sierra Leone.

Some of the basic necessities made viable through aid include school buildings and the training of teachers, vaccinations programs, reproductive health care and anti-natal care. These services are desperately needed; in East Timor, one hundred times more women lose their life during childbirth than in Australia. (Make Poverty History)

Other important projects involve building roads and the provision of food or creating clean water sources. Donating livestock and agricultural training can allow communities to develop a sustainable livelihood. And there are critical initiatives working to improve operations of police and justice systems.

Aid allows local communities and international experts to identify the key problems and work to build sustainable solutions whilst evaluating and learning from the results. It is a collaborative approach to reducing the abject and dehumanising poverty facing more than a billion people.

Development aid isn’t just about providing band-aids, although sometimes band-aids are needed too! Development aid is exactly that – aiding a country to develop the systems that are lacking, such as education, healthcare or a legal framework so that countries can enjoy sustainable improvements.

Aid can allow communities to develop prosperous trading systems and this is vital! For real sustainable growth to occur, countries need to participate in the ever expanding global economy. This is good for us too; having trading partners provides us with new markets in which to buy and sell goods. China is just one example of how poverty reduction can have global repercussions. Australian exports to China have grown 30% per year since 2000. [3]

If developing countries gained even just 1% more of the value of world trade, it would lift 128 million people out of poverty. [2].

We all know the famous saying, “Give a man a fish and he eats for a day, teach a man to fish and he eats for a lifetime”. What we are talking about is supporting countries to be able to develop their own capacity to fish for a lifetime.