The Australian Council for International Development (ACFID) is urging the Labor Government to deliver on its pre-election promises to boost the aid budget when it hands down its first Budget next week – and to continue this momentum into the 2023-24 Budget.
However the sector is warning that Australia’s aid contributions risk dropping to historically low levels without further investment, beyond the commitments already announced.
Labor is vowing to inject an additional $1 billion over four years into the existing aid budget. Currently, ODA (Overseas Development Assistance) sits at around $4.5 billion per year, which represents 0.2 percent of Australian GNI.
The Coalition’s Temporary, Targeted and Supplementary Measures (TTS), currently worth an estimated $460 million in 2022-23, come to an end in the next two years. ACFID is calling for funding to be made permanent and allocated to priority development areas such as climate change adaptation, gender equality, health systems strengthening, and others.
Failing to sufficiently address the TTS budget drop off would mean that Australia’s ODA as a percentage of GNI would fall to 0.18%, which is its lowest level on record.
Said ACFID CEO Marc Purcell:
“The aid budget is in danger of falling to historic lows if there is no course correction. Currently we rank number 21 in OECD country rankings, however we are currently the 12th largest economy globally.
“In the face of an uncertain geo-strategic environment, when many economies are still recovering from the pandemic and the spectre of famine and more frequent climate related disasters loom, the case for increasing Australia’s development assistance has never been more compelling.
“It is clear that this is a Government that recognises the immense scale of need in afflicted countries and communities around the world – from unimaginable levels of hunger caused by wide-scale food insecurity in the Horn of Africa, to helping in global efforts towards aid to flood-affected Pakistanis. We are interconnected, within the Indo-Pacific neighbourhood and beyond.”
ACFID has welcomed ALP’s pre-election commitments which include:
· $525 million over four years for international development in the Pacific;
· $470 million over four years to go towards projects in South East Asia;
· and $30 million over four years for the Australian NGO Cooperation Program.
ACFID has asked for:
· New and additional ODA of $150 million for immediate famine relief, and $200 million annually for three years to be spent on global food security measures;
· $705 million over four years allocated to climate resilience and gender equality, to come from the pre-election commitments;
· A well-resourced new development strategy process, which is currently underway.
Full details can be found in ACFID 2022-23 October Pre-Budget Submission
Following the October Budget, it is critical the Government continues to build on their election commitments and outline a plan to increase ODA year-on-year to reach 0.5% of GNI target. It should begin this by delivering the planned new Development Policy to inform ongoing ODA investments in the 2023-24 Budget and beyond.
