Foreign aid is given to selected developing countries, and is necessary in order to protect the people and build a stable society. Australia is part of the worldwide foreign aid commitment and plans to give $3.9 billion over 2017 and 2018. Australians believe everyone should live with basic human rights which is why we give aid, and help countries by contributing money, food and resources. The main types of aid are humanitarian aid, which is disaster/emergency relief and development aid, which is a long-term commitment between nations. Australian aid is mainly focused on development aid, and helps nations worldwide. Interestingly, 90% of Australia’s foreign aid goes to Asia-Pacific countries such as Indonesia and Papua New Guinea. This gives Australia a stronger relationship with regional nations, providing the country with a strong relation, trading partner and partner in defence. Aid is a polarizing issue that divides the nation due to the two differing views on Australia giving aid, should the country give foreign aid or not? A strong foreign aid program is vital for Australia to build successful relations and regional security.
A large section of the population believes that Australia should reduce the amount of aid given. The article What is the future of foreign aid? (Article 1) published by the guardian is against foreign aid in its current form. This is justified through the article quote “The debate over the extent of aid is, and whenever it should continue is
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:
aid can be used to protect the United States from threats from other nations. Beyond humanitarian aid, there is a more complex interpretation of what U.S. foreign aid is and what it does both for the recipient country and America. For example, building democratic governments in other countries is one strategy for fighting terrorism. The United States has long had the reputation of using its military forces for good, such as during World War II when American soldiers helped to defeat Hitler’s Nazism. When dealing with a repressive regime which does not want to engage in democracy military force may be necessary. I am convinced that the United States can provide a healthy dose of overwhelming firepower if that is what it
Along with New Zealand, the United Kingdom, Malaysia and Singapore, Australia is party to the Five Power Defence Arrangements, a regional defence agreement. A founding member country of the United Nations, Australia is strongly committed to multilateralism and maintains an international aid program which supports around 60 countries today, quite amazing right?Calculations made during 2005-2006 shows that Australia is giving about A$2.5 billion every year to developing countries. Australia ranks 15th overall in the Center for Global Development's 2012 Commitment to Development Index.
As mentioned by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Australia’s Aid program works in, “promoting prosperity, reducing poverty and enhancing stability”. Cuts in the foreign aid budget will not only affect the countries around us, but also Australia. Through Australia’s ongoing support to developing countries by AusAID (Australian Agency for International Development), we have strengthened our countries political stability and security by creating close ties with other nations. Australia donates around AU$5 billion each year to aiding the developing countries around us, particularly nations located in the Asia Pacific Region. By doing this we have improved their economies, bringing peace to these countries.
Should the United States increase foreign aid? This is a topic that has come up many
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.
Providing aid to developing countries in the Asia-Pacific region allows the countries to develop politically and economically, helping the region prosper, and therefore improve Australia’s personal security. The aid provided by Australia helps developing countries to stabilise their situation
Other then our close links in government, defence, education and trade we also supply a sufficient amount of money, approximately $542.5 million this year in aid funding. However in the recent years the Australian government has become less and less inclining to raise or even sustain the amount that we supply to Indonesia and its counterparts in Asia. This would make Australia’s aid spending as a proportion of our national income is at it’s lowest point since 1954 when we began graphing our “generosity”
Australian Aid (the Australian Agency for International Development) is when money, goods and skills from a developed country is transferred to a developing country. The Australian Aid program grants approximately 5 billion dollars worth of Aid. Australia gives aid across in a large variety countries (seen in Figure 1). The most assistance given is to our closest neighbours in the Pacific and East Asia. Their is a large amount of poor people in our region, this is where Australia can make the most difference.
This choropleth map shows the geographical allocation of Australian foreign aid in the year of 2012. As you can see, Indonesia marked in red is the largest recipient of Australia’s foreign aid program, receiving an estimated 137 million US Dollars of Official Developmental Assistance annually. The primary reason for this is the fact that Indonesia, while being one of Australia’s closest political neighbours, is also one the most populated countries in the developing world.
Encyclopaedia Britannica defines Foreign aid 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. Aid can be economic, military or emergency humanitarian’. As of 2015 Australia’s aid budget has fallen to $4 billion from $5.6 billion in 2013 after the 2014 Abbott government cuts which places Australia as the 12th highest country for aid as of 2015. These cuts will mean that Australian aid will be 0.22% of Gross National Income (GNI) of the 2017-18 budget compared to 0.34% of GNI in the 2013-14 budget. Australia under the governmental agency
Aid has never been an altruistic process; countries have always given aid to areas that best further their own national interests. Countries give aid for a number of reasons; they range from securing political connections to creating more favourable trade routes. Pure altruism is not the number one reason any country gives aid, and Australia is no exception. National interest lies at the core of all of her foreign aid policies, (DFAT 2015). As such Australia would most benefit as a nation from concentrating her aid on the Indo-Pacific region. Providing nations within our regional neighbourhood with aid results in economic growth for both Australia and her aid recipients. It also stabilises trade and security within the region, thus providing
In our economical national interest, Australia allocates a sector to contribute significantly by providing aid and financial support to promote the stability of a variety of countries within the Indo-Pacific. Within 2016 to 2017, 90% of Australia’s aid will directly go to the
Australia should continue to give Aid to help support other nations as well as benefit Australia as a whole. Aid is not only a moral issue, but a strategic plan that can benefits our Australia and other counties. By giving foreign aid can help establish political ties, benefits us economically and defense wise. We also increase economic, health and structural development in developing countries, help prevent political and economic unrest, prevent or stop the spread of disease and increase trade and economic welfare over the world.
Majority of Australians take pride in having a generous nature when it comes to helping people or communities in need. Our foreign minister back in the year of 1997 Mr Alexander Downer, pointed this out when he made the statement “the generosity of Australians and our commitment to giving to others, much worse off than ourselves, a fair go.” The 2015-2016 foreign aid budget which was put forward by the Abbott government has cut foreign aid funding from A$5.0 billion to A$4.0 billion, which is a cut of exactly A$1 billion, the biggest cut to the aid program since its creation 40 years ago.