10 April 2007
RENEWED CALLS FOR HONOURING OF AID COMMITMENT
As a signatory to the Millenium Declaration Australia agreed to support the eight, internationally-agreed goals to halve global poverty by 2015.
Oxfam is currently campaigning for Australian Labor Party, which is Australia’s alternative government to make a clear timetabled commitment to increase Australia’s overseas aid at its forthcoming National Conference in Sydney. You can support that call by following the above link to the website.
In the meantime a survey carried out by Aid/Watch a not for profit activist organisation monitoring and campaigning on Australian overseas aid and trade policies and programs, has revealed that politicians are out of step with the Australian public on the issue of the purpose of aid.
In the survey almost three quarters of politicians agreed with the proposition that aid should be used to pursue Australia’s national interests and promote Australia’s domestic industry compared with only 14% of community respondents who rather saw it as a means of assisting the millions of people living in poverty in our region.