Less than one-quarter of Australia’s aid money is going to the world’s poorest nations, new analysis by aid organisation One has revealed.
About 22.7% of aid money goes to the least developed nations, with the Abbott government instead opting to focus on the Asia-Pacific region. Around 20% of the world’s poorest countries are in that region, with more than two-thirds in sub-Saharan Africa.
Australia’s aid budget has been slashed by $11bn over the last few years, and in the 2013-14 financial year, the country spent $4.7bn on development funding. Just 5% of that – $240m – went to sub-Saharan Africa. A further $713m went to other under-developed nations.
Nearly all jurisdictions received a cut to funding, as outlined in the 2014-15 May budget, but sub-Saharan Africa received one of the largest cuts, losing 70% of its funding.
Aid group One wants donor countries like Australia to adopt new goals for next week’s aid conference in Ethiopia.
The United Nations financing for development conference will plot out a financial pathway end extreme poverty by 2030, and is the last major aid meeting before the sustainable development goals are adopted in New York in September.
The new goals will replace the Millennium Development Goals, many of which fell by the wayside when the global financial crisis hit.
One said donor countries must commit to raising its aid funding to 0.7% of gross national income (GNI), of which 50% should go to the world’s least developed countries.
“2015 could be a game changer for the world’s most vulnerable people, but decisions taken in Addis Ababa will determine whether the opportunity is seized or squandered,” said One’s director of global policy, Eloise Todd. “We won’t see an end to extreme poverty unless countries like Australia shift focus to the poorest countries and the poorest people.”
“So far, the Abbott government has been historic for all the wrong reasons, overseeing cuts to the aid budget that have set Australia down the path to being the least generous it’s ever been in terms of aid,” she said.
Australia currently spends 0.27% of GNI in aid. By contrast, Britain is one of the few countries to have met the 0.7% aid goal.
The US provides the most aid in terms of quantity, nudging $33bn in 2013-14. But by proportion the figure is low, representing 0.19% of GNI.
Both the US and Britain have increased their aid contribution to sub-Saharan Africa by more than 7% in one year.
One also wants donor countries to focus on aid programs that offer basic services like health and education, particularly for women, and urges recipient nations to strengthen anti-corruption measures so that aid money gets to the most vulnerable.
The managing director of the International Monetary Fund, Christine Lagarde, will give the keynote address at next week’s financing aid conference in Addis Ababa.
Labor’s foreign affiars spokeswoman, Tanya Plibersek, will be attending, while the foreign minister, Julie Bishop, was yet to confirm either way.
“There are a number of foreign policy and security matters that the minister must attend to next week and she is currently finalising her schedule,” a spokeswoman said.
