An interesting aspect of the Coalition’s suggestion that the ALP had committed to restoring $19 billion to the Australian Aid budget is that pro-Aid campaigners themselves had previously only mentioned $11 billion of cuts. That is, they intentionally inflate the level of cuts to more powerfully demonstrate their commitment to balancing the budget on the backs of the world’s poor. While politicians and Australia’s humanitarians war over the dollar figures in the forward estimates there’s another battle that’s less about our national budget and more about our national character – a war on generosity.
The commentary has covered the state of our material generosity – we’re now at the lowest levels of Australian Aid at any time in our history – but the fact that this is a point of pride for our Government, something they’d intentionally exaggerate to make a political point, says even more about our spiritual generosity. We are not only being financially mean, we are mean-spirited.
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In an overpopulated world, Australians, and other wealthy countries have been keeping their reproduction down to fewer than two babies per woman for 38 years. If the source countries of the refugees had done the same, there would be no refugee crisis.
Resettling refugees does absolutely nothing to alleviate the world refugee crisis because as fast as one is resettled, two more babies (future refugees) are born. The largest refugee camp is in Kenya and there, 1000 new refugees are born every month.
We could be doing more to provide women in undeveloped countries with the education and contraceptive services they both need and want, but our political parties can't see past the able bodied men on our doorstep who aren't satisfied with safety, and want a western standard of living.
Foreign aid can make the difference between some people being able to stay in their home countries or being forced out as refugees. Foreign aid as education can stop young people coming under the influence of alternative education run by organisations that may not be friendly towards Australia. Foreign aid is really important towards promoting our country as a good neighbour. That may make all the difference when that young kid educated at a school supported by Australian foreign aid becomes the politician in the UN deciding who to support or a country is deciding whether or not to allow an Australian company to operate in their country.
However this opinion piece is spot on. We are developing a reputation overseas for ugliness and a poverty of spirit. Our policies reflect poorly on our values or those values that we like to think are Australian.