Aid/Watch is monitoring how Australian aid is used to counter what the Australian Government sees as a growing threat from China. The military-scale up including military and economic alliances like AUKUS and Quad could threaten peace and security in the region.

Our research in the past two years has focused on the militarisation of aid. Over the coming months, we will be producing primers and research in collaboration with the Asia Pacific Research Network on military alliances, militarisation of Australian aid, and the intersecting issues of military and energy security in the Asia Pacific region.

With a newly elected Australian government we have the opportunity to set the agenda to keep the Asia Pacific region nuclear-free and develop the path towards a just and lasting peace.

We acknowledge that to reimagine aid we must also redefine development.

Central to redefining development is the demand from people’s movements across the region for system change and that Indigenous peoples, peasant folk, and frontline communities are at the forefront of paving the path for genuine development.

With your support we launched the 100-page report HAUS BAGARAP, HEVI KAMAP: Homes Destroyed, Livelihoods Lost – a two-year collaborative research and social mapping project led by the Paga Hill community in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea that exposed how development aggression violently disposed and displaced an entire community.

Becoming a Monthly Donor or making a One-off Donation will go towards Aid/Watch’s new research and campaign project on a new form of development aggression, Australian ‘Green’ Extractivism with a report set to be launched in August 2022.

A key case study of this report is our Stop Lynas campaign that has been running for over a decade in collaboration with our Malaysian partners.

Despite the intensifying threats and vulnerabilities, we recognise the people’s decisiveness to resist and rebuild their lives through solidarity and action.

Asia Pacific Research Network Biennial Statement, April 2022

To meaningfully transform the Australian aid and development agenda not only requires a commitment to the redistribution of power and resources but also requires a commitment from all of us to International Solidarity.

In Solidarity, we can collaborate in reclaiming rights, centring justice, and fighting for a genuine recovery for all.

Celebration is an activist skill … Activists are often so focused on problems. We’re used to battle and struggle. Unfortunately, many of us have experienced defeat. Even when we do win it can be hard to take it in as we rush on to the next challenge.

Holly Hammond, The Commons Social Change Library

Aid/Watch is proud of our 30-year legacy that centres on justice and solidarity before charity. We couldn’t have done it without you!

This is our 30th year! Whatever choice you make to be a part of Aid/Watch we can’t wait to celebrate with you.