NEWS & EVENTS
Aid Review
Dear All,The Australian Government has commissioned an Independent Review of Aid Effectiveness. This is our chance to make real changes to Australia’s aid program so that it makes a positive and long-lasting contribution to the lives of the poor.This year the...
AID/WATCH in the News: Bridle on outspoken charities was wrong
The test case concerned Aid/Watch, a self-described ''activist'' group concerned with the relief of international poverty. It seeks to achieve its goals through unorthodox means for a charity. Rather than raising money for or engaging directly in anti-poverty...
AID/WATCH in the News: Charities can be political
In a David-versus-Goliath moment in 2006, the Australian Tax Office (ATO) deprived the small grassroots organisation Aid/Watch of their charitable status. Goliath was finally defeated in this recent judgment and the High Court confirmed that Aid/Watch can keep its...
Charities win tax ruling on lobbying
Article originally appeared in The Australian By Rowan Callick LOBBY groups that campaign against government policy will be entitled to claim charity status after a court ruling yesterday. The court swept aside Australian Taxation Office restrictions on charities'...
AID/WATCH in the News: Charities win tax ruling on lobbying
The court swept aside Australian Taxation Office restrictions on charities' advocacy work, pronouncing that such campaigning could itself be a charitable activity entitling tax deductibility -- as long as it was intended for public benefit. This opens the door to...
AID/WATCH in the News: High Court finds Aid/Watch a charity
Wednesday's decision overturns a lower court ruling in favour of the Australian Taxation Office.The ATO had argued successfully that Aid/Watch's lobbying activities meant its main purpose was political and that it could not be categorised as a charitable...
AID/WATCH in the News: Aid/Watch wins back charity status
The fight broke out four years ago, when the Commissioner of Taxation ruled that Aid/Watch wasn't entitled to the tax exempt status enjoyed by charities because it engaged in political activity. Since then a series of courts have considered the matter,...
High Court decision a win for charities
Aid/Watch and Maurice Blackburn lawyers say the decision (Aid/Watch incorporate v Commissioner of Taxation 2010), has enormous implications not just for Aid/Watch but for any charity that seeks to influence government policy in the public interest.The four-year legal...
PEOPLE AND PLANET: SOCIAL JUSTICE AND ENVIRONMENT CALENDARS & DIARIES 2011
People & Planet is published by a partnership of 37 Australian social justice and environment organisations, and raises funds for the work of these organisations in promoting a just, sustainable world.Support AID/WATCH by buying a copy of the People & Planet...
Forest project threatens Indonesian tribes
Kalimantan is part of Indonesia which is one of the world's largest carbon emitters because of logging, forest fires and the drying out of peat swamps.During his recent trip to the country, US president Barack Obama promised $700 million for climate change and forest...
AID/WATCH IN THE NEWS: Aid groups pleased with spending review
The Federal Government has just announced the review saying it wants to make sure it's getting the most out of every aid dollar. NGOs say that to do so it should consider decoupling AusAID from the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.Meredith Griffiths...
AID/WATCH IN THE NEWS: Australia to undertake comprehensive aid review
Australia's aid budget has doubled in recent years and is set to double again in the next five years.Canberra was warned by its own Treasury in recently released documents that simply scaling up existing aid activities won't deliver value for money ... especially in...
Policy Asks
Below are the Australian government policy changes that AID/WATCH believes are necessary for an aid program based on social justice and human rights, and environmental sustainability. Join the campaign to make this happen! 1 - Remove ‘National...
Australia
In 2007- 08, approximately one billion dollars or 30% of Australia’s aid money was channelled to and through multilateral institutions and funds.[1] As the chart below shows, in 2007-08 the ADB and World Bank received 50% of Australia’s multilateral...
How does Australia contribute to multilateral institutions?
There are various ways in which Australia channels money to and through multilateral institutions and funds:Core funding: Core funding allows multilateral institutions greater control over how that money is spent. Because core funding arrangements are generally...
Australia
Until recently, however, there has been little in the way of a publicly articulated framework which explains how the Australian Government determines its funding relationship with the banks and other multilateral institutions.In 2009 AusAID developed a draft...
Aiding climate change
Unchecked global warming is already having a devastating impact. It is felt most harshly by the poor worldwide, and not least in the Pacific Islands. Yet Australia’s additional climate aid is zero. The $160 million to be spent on climate aid during 2010-11...
Millennium Development Goals and the Paris Declaration
Millennium Development GoalsThe United Nation's eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) focus on key social factors that are crucial to poverty alleviation:Eradicate extreme poverty and hungerAchieve universal primary educationPromote gender equality and empower...