Australia's Foreign Aid

Australia may have its problems e.g Obesity problems, homeless persons, cost of housing. But these pale into insignificance when compared with issues faced by countries with civil wars and health epidemics (such as Aids in Africa). Australians give money to overseas charities, a great example of this was the tsunamis experienced South East Asia. Following this catastrophic event the Charity Organisations were

Foreign aid aims to reduce poverty and create sustainable economic growth and development in the Indo-Pacific regions whilst promoting Australia’s national interests. Australian aid helps to provide access to safe drinking water for 2.9 million more people and enable 1.4 million more children to enrol in school.

Some of the main reasons why Australia provides foreign aid is to increase advanced systems and technology in other countries, decrease poverty, make other countries more stable generally and financially, etc. Some government and non-government organization like Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT), AusAID, World vision, Red cross, etc. also help provide foreign aid to other countries. Australia’s 10 main focus points and the status of achievement for some of the following in providing aid to other countries are towards the following:

Foreign aid is something that is provided by donating governments to countries in need, mostly third-world countries. Foreign aid is allocated for two extremely broad categories, economic development and military aid. Under these categories there are specific uses for foreign aid like, health, humanitarian assistance, democratic elections and even protection for forests. There is debate about foreign aid being a waste because of corrupt governments, which gives the United States speculation whether it should continue to provide foreign aid and how much. This was a popular topic in the 2012 election between Barack Obama and Mitt Romney. It would be most beneficial to the United States to maintain foreign aid levels while having conditions

There are two main perspectives on foreign aid in Australia – are we giving too much or not enough? Foreign aid is given to developing countries, and is necessary to build an environment where policies and infrastructure can be in place to support other sources of finance. Australia is part of the worldwide foreign aid commitment as we value that everyone should have a fair go, and the country plans to give $3.9 billion over 2017 and 2018. We help countries in need by contributing, food, resources, providing financial assistance, exchanging goods, personal time and knowledge. The main types of aid are humanitarian aid, which is disaster relief and emergency aid and development aid, which is a long-term commitment between nations. Australian aid is strongly on development aid particularly focused on the Asia-Pacific region, but it also has a strong commitment to African and South Asia. Interestingly, 90% of Australia’s foreign aid goes to Asia-Pacific countries such as Indonesia and Papua New Guinea, because if they build into a developed nation, then we can build trade relations, regional security and partner in defence. This is a polarizing issue that divides the nation due to different views on Australia giving aid, however, a strong foreign aid program is vital for Australia to build successful relations and regional security.

Foreign Aid Canada (FAC) is a charitable organization whose mandate is to provide humanitarian aid in Africa and Asia through emergency relief, development assistance, and HIV/AIDS treatment and prevention programs. FAC's strategic goal is to undertake HIV/AIDS projects that will help 3000-6000 AIDS patients, while maintaining a cost of less than $700/patient/year, and continuing to provide emergency relief and development assistance. CIDA, a government organization, will fund AIDS projects if they achieve the targets set out above. In

Many skeptics challenge the reasoning for investing so much money into helping so many other countries when that money could instead help us improve internal affairs. After all, foreign aid spending has increased to $50 billion a year today, which could be put towards funding education to ensure that more kids go to college and possibly affecting the innovation of the future(Morris). Giving more than you receive is nice, but when it involves a country 's financial crisis, maybe it 's best if Santa cuts back some of this year 's presents. And although the argument may be valid, lending out a helping hand can create more allies than enemies to help us in return when we need it. In fact, foreign aid only accounts for 0.5 percent of the federal budget (Stearn). Compared to all the other matters at hand that the government is worrying about, the amount of spending put into aiding poorer countries is positive in both a moral aspect and a political aspect.

As selfish as it may seem, if you aid a particular country they could possibly help you back. During future wars, third world countries could assist Australians with troops or building weaponry. An example would be the relationship between England and Australia during World War One. England helped Australia with defense from enemies, financial needs and medical tools when Australia was a developing country and Australia repaid them by siding with them in many wars to come.

Ever had that one friend? The one who tries to help, but no matter how hard he tries, he just aggravates the situation. This friend, Steve, insists he is helping, and those around, too, would support that he is indeed helping. But Steve is actually worsening the circumstances. He is like countries who provide foreign aid to less developed countries. Foreign aid, defined as “the international transfer of capital, goods, or services from a country or international organization for the benefit of the recipient country or its population,” can be military, economic, or humanitarian (“Foreign”). It is often granted to less developed countries in order to evoke government reforms or to stimulate economic growth. However, foreign aid neither elicits government reform, nor does it consistently and reliably stimulate economic growth; therefore, the United States should discontinue providing foreign economic aid.

Australia is a multicultural country that will continue to develop in such a way under the influences of interacting with other countries. This will help expand Australia’s diversity and encourage social behaviours. Australia in many cases uses tied aid to benefit developing countries which also offers a majority of job opportunities for Australians. Take for example the devastating 2005 Pakistan earthquake which impacted the nation greatly. Australia assisted by donating AU $40 million as well as supplying Pakistan with professionals in the construction of new buildings and schools as well as health facilities, providing overseas job opportunities to

The U.S. and Australian alliance share an interest in maintaining the peace and stability in the Asian- Pacific

The role of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT)that relates to Australia’s foreign aid consists of promoting prosperity, reducing poverty, enhancing stability and performance. The purpose of Australia’s aid program is to endorse Australia’s national identity. The aid program does this by contributing to sustainable economic and reducing poverty and this purpose is pursued by focusing o supporting private sector development and strengthening human development.

An additional advantage of aid is that it provides Australia with strengthened diplomatic, economic and political ties to the recipient countries. As Australia is a prominent aid donor in the Asia-Pacific region, it has strong diplomatic ties with the developing countries of that area, and can therefore receive the benefits from such a relationship with these countries. An example of such a relationship would be the free trade agreements Australia signed with Singapore in 2003 and Thailand in 2005, Australia diplomatic relationship with these nations played a large role in the securing of these two agreements. Australia can also benefit from such a good relationship politically as the recipient country of Australian aid can support Australia’s politics. A strong relationship with a recipient nation would also allow Australia to form economic bonds with the developing country, such as the agreement of tied aid money – were the recipient must spend some of the aid money provided by Australia on Australia’s goods and services, therefore strengthening Australia’s economy. Hence, creating and maintaining strong relationships with recipient nations of Australian aid is advantages as it

Australian-Indonesian relations are the foreign relations between the two countries, whether economically, politically, legally or socially. Australian-Indonesian relations involve an interaction in foreign policies between the two nations (Wolfsohn, 1951, p. 68). As long as Indonesia is Australia 's closest and largest neighbor, they are bound to have great international relations. These relations began as early as the 17th century and had only become enhanced with time (Daly, 2003, p. 397). The relationship has been defined by a conjoint growth trade of up to $14 between the years 2011-2012 which reports an increase from the previous economic year (Mark, 2012, p.402). These countries are members of various trade deals such as the ASEAN Regional Forum in addition to having close ties with education, defense, and leadership. Australia 's relationship with Indonesia is crucial, and lack of such could severely bruise the economy, and hence they need to keep united by ensuring the use of widespread media with beneficial input. Australia interacts with Indonesia in a way such as sporting activity, tourism, education, economic policies, youth exchange programs, cultures and above all their diplomacy (Okamoto, 2010, p.241).

Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) is the pre-eminent economic rally in Australia’s region. APEC’s goal is to drive an extensive trade and investment liberalisation and facilitation agenda. It is focused on structural reform as a means of raising competitiveness and the efficiency of trade and investment flows. It has helped Australia with building and strengthening ties with other countries such as Brunei, Singapore, Philippines and other countries in the region. In 2009, 70% of Australia’s trade is with APEC countries.