Deliver a moral surplus
The Government have walked away from their commitment to increasing Australia's foreign aid. This budget has cut $2.9 billion from Australia's aid to the world's poorest.
Two important figures put this cut into perspective:
290,000 -- the number of lives that money could have saved, according to World Vision estimates.
$3 -- for every dollar taken away from foreign aid, we're putting $3 into the pockets of mining companies though the fuel tax subsidy alone. That's $4,480 a minute over the next four years.
There's still hope: the promise to increase foreign aid was a tripartite promise: shared by Labor, the Greens and the Coalition. Right now, Tony Abbott and the Coalition are formulating their budget reply.
Two important figures put this cut into perspective:
290,000 -- the number of lives that money could have saved, according to World Vision estimates.
$3 -- for every dollar taken away from foreign aid, we're putting $3 into the pockets of mining companies though the fuel tax subsidy alone. That's $4,480 a minute over the next four years.
There's still hope: the promise to increase foreign aid was a tripartite promise: shared by Labor, the Greens and the Coalition. Right now, Tony Abbott and the Coalition are formulating their budget reply.
At the 2010 federal election, Tony Abbott and Julie Bishop committed to increase Australia's foreign aid to 0.5%--just half of one percent--of national income by 2015.
That's still less than the 0.7% recommended by the UN, but it's a commitment that could save hundreds of thousands of lives, and educate millions of children. Australia's foreign aid goes to work every day helping the world's poorest people - including our closest neighbours like East Timor.
The Government have walked away from that commitment, but this week Tony Abbott's opposition have an opportunity to differentiate themselves. They can reaffirm their promise to foreign aid -- to delivering a budget surplus without moral deficit.
That's still less than the 0.7% recommended by the UN, but it's a commitment that could save hundreds of thousands of lives, and educate millions of children. Australia's foreign aid goes to work every day helping the world's poorest people - including our closest neighbours like East Timor.
The Government have walked away from that commitment, but this week Tony Abbott's opposition have an opportunity to differentiate themselves. They can reaffirm their promise to foreign aid -- to delivering a budget surplus without moral deficit.