NEWS & EVENTS
Climate Aid Budget
“The Budget commits $251 million to climate aid. This is derisory. Australia’s fair share is at least $2 billion. We are denying real help to societies that today are bearing the brunt of climate change,” said AID/WATCH spokesperson, Dr James Goodman. In its recent...
Better Aid calls for civil society applications to participate in High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness.
Click here for more information about the application process and forms.
AID/WATCH in the News: Back Story – Australian aid review
It's six months since Australia's Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd commissioned a sweeping review of Australia's aid program, led by former senior diplomat and public servant Sandy Hollway. That review will be handed to the Foreign Minister this week. When he announced the...
AID/WATCH in News: Overseas aid spent on the elite
The lucrative awards provide elite students from poorer nations with a stipend of about $25,000 a year and also cover their university or college fees in Australia.But while the program's aim is to reduce poverty, the Howard, Rudd and Gillard governments have used it...
National security focus needed to boost support for aid program
The report, by the Australian Strategic Policy Institute and the Foundation for Development Co-operation, was produced by a taskforce including former Howard government trade minister Mark Vaile, former Rudd government parliamentary secretary for international...
Media Release: Australia must commit to supporting Pacific trade capacity
The Constitution of the Office of Chief Trade Adviser (OCTA) was the main point of contention at the Forum Trade officials meeting in Palau last week, with Australia calling for a delay in the establishment of OCTA as an independent legal entity.Despite OCTA’s...
AID/WATCH in the news: Does foreign aid do more harm than good?
THE STATESMAN MALCOLM FRASERAMID the backdrop of disasters in Australia and when foreign aid is under scrutiny some who maintain 'charity begins at home' may suggest that aid does more harm than good. My own experience has overwhelmingly convinced me that aid does far...
Military spends $215m to give $37m in aid to Afghanistan
And the $37m that was spent directly on such projects included more than $6m used to build and maintain patrol bases and other military and security facilities used by the Afghan forces or shared with them.The remaining $215m has been spent on 'the net additional...
Take Action: Make a submission to the aid review and make aid fair!
This year the Australian Government will spend $4.3 billion in aid – and by 2015-16 this is expected to double to over $8 billion. Australia’s aid program can make a huge difference to the lives of millions of people.Unfortunately, the aid program...
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...