Edmund Rice Justice Bulletin

 Budgets reflect the priorities and aspirations of the governments and nations that prepare them. Budgets weigh up which issues and concerns will receive public funds, and how much they will receive, and which issues will be left aside.

The budget makes choices about spending public money, so every interested citizen and group has the right to express their view about how that money should be used.

The recently elected Australian Government is due to deliver its first budget in May. A reshaping of Australia’s overseas aid program has already been signalled - the cutting $4.5 billion from the budget over the next four years, and pushing for more "aid for trade". However, not all the elements and details about what the Government intends are clear.

It is also not clear what other areas of aid – such as health, education, or water and sanitation – will be de-emphasised to make room for the change.

The Government has also signalled the budget constraints it intends to apply to aid (holding aid to roughly $5 billion annually with no real growth over the next four years). This would seem to be a grave breach of the Government's own commitments to increase aid to 0.5% of Gross National Income as a stepping-stone on the way to meeting the long-standing international aid target of 0.7% GNI. In contrast the United Kingdom recently became the first of the world’s richest large nations to hit the internationally agreed target of spending 0.7 percent of national income on development aid thus joining a group of smaller wealthy countries that have already met or exceeded it: Sweden, Norway, Luxembourg, Denmark and the Netherlands

Your are invited to visit the Micah Challenge website to see how you can help to ensure Australia commits to a generous and effective aid program, focused on tackling poverty.