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AusAID is the Australian government agency responsible for managing Australia’s foreign aid program, which currently sits within the portfolio of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT). Since the 2006 White Paper on Australian Aid, the overall strategic framework for the aid program has been to 'assist developing countries to reduce poverty and achieve sustainable development, in line with Australia’s national interest'.(25)
Anastasya Tay/AID/WATCH Aceh
How does Australian government aid measure up?
The agenda of national interest guiding aid practices is highly contested, especially as it is not conducive to effective aid relationships and creates a dramatic power imbalance between Australia and its aid recipient neighbours.
This section illustrates how a large proportion of Australian aid funding is being channeled to Australian Government Departments and private companies. It also examines how the Australian Government has been inflating its Official Development Assistance figures, a common practice that allows donors to appear much more generous than they are.
Aligned with Australia's own national interest, other concerning trends in Australia’s aid practices are found in this section. These include:
- The securitisation of aid: which has seen increased Australian police presence in the Pacific in the name of ‘good governance’.
- The commercialisation of aid: resulting in ‘boomerang’ aid going into the pockets of Australian companies, consultants, advisors, goods and services, often bypassing the people who need it most.
- Aid facilitating a trade liberalisation agenda, often at the expense of local livelihoods.
- Aid funding going to carbon intensive fossil fuel projects with little concern for their impacts on people and the environment.
- Tied aid: aid conditionality that privileges Australian companies and national priorities at the expense of local self-determination.
(25) AusAID, ‘About the Program’, online http://www.ausaid.gov.au/makediff/default.cfm, accessed 2nd September 2008
