We are not living up to our modest aid promise

Tim Costello

The Age, March 8, 2007 We have produced leaders in business, academia and sport. We were one of the first nations to give women the vote, as well as the right to be elected to Parliament. Australia also broke new ground by introducing a minimum wage that was "fair and reasonable".

As a nation we revel in the Lucky Country tag. When it was penned by Donald Horne in 1964, it was meant to be an indictment of the country. Other nations were clever - we were lucky. Our achievements, our "luck" and our sense of "a fair go" are the bedrock of our nation's psyche. Yet behind the fair-go ethic is a nagging question: just how generous are we? And: how do we compare with other nations in our giving?

Well, now we can answer this because the figures are out. A report in Britain by the Charities Aid Foundation has compared the giving of individuals in the world's wealthiest countries. On overall private giving to those in need, at home and overseas, Australians are fourth after the US, Canada and Britain. Private giving by Australians reached 0.69 per cent of our GDP. (This compared with 1.67 per cent for the US, 0.73 per cent for Britain and 0.72 per cent in Canada.)

But we know from other studies that Australia rises even higher when its private giving to overseas aid is compared. Australians rank only second to the Irish when it comes to giving to the 1 billion people on the planet who live in extreme poverty.

I believe Australians understand that we are global citizens. Australians understand that we cannot win a war on terrorism unless we wage a war against poverty. Too often the slums of the poorest countries can become the recruiting grounds for terrorists. Too often parents there are robbed of hope that their children can get an education or adequate health care.

But while Australia has much to be proud of in terms of private giving, the level our Government gives to overseas aid compares poorly. Australia ranks 19 out of 22 rich nations for the amount of aid our Government gives as a proportion of gross national income (GNI). The Government this past financial year gave $4.5 billion less to aid than it would have had it kept the same levels as when it came to power. Almost 30 years ago world leaders agreed that if the world's richest nations gave 1 per cent of their GNI, we could end extreme poverty. It was believed that 0.3 per cent should come from private individuals and businesses. Privately Australians are giving generously, particularly those on $40,000 to $50,000 incomes. I do fear that the contribution of business and the mega-rich, however, has failed to match the generosity of everyday Australians.

It was envisioned that the remaining 0.7 per cent should come from the governments of wealthy countries. Since 1969 most governments have repeatedly promised to give 0.7 per cent of GNI in overseas aid - including our own.

Yet even with the 2005 announcement by Prime Minister John Howard that the Government would almost double our overseas aid budget - it will only take us to 0.36 per cent of GNI.

The funding shortfall is tragic because we know increased aid can strike a blow against poverty. Economist Jeffrey Sachs has argued that if the world's richest nations took overseas aid to even 0.5 per cent of GNI by 2010, it would halve the 1 billion people living on less than $US1 a day. The world gives $US80 billion ($A104 billion) in aid but $US140 billion is needed to make extreme poverty history. To put this in perspective, the US has spent $180 billion a year for the past three years in Iraq.

In the past year we have seen global warming shoot to the top of our political agenda. It is a clear moral challenge and an issue we must address. Indeed we know that climate change will have disastrous implications for the world's poorest communities.

Yet the commitment required to eradicate global poverty is modest by comparison with the cost we will have to endure in combating climate change. In 20 years time I suspect that we will be shocked at how modest the request of 0.7 per cent is from the poorest trying to survive. They are not asking us to give up our consumer excesses but just to show a little charity that we could easily afford.

We are making progress against chronic poverty. In the late 1950s poverty killed up to 50,000 children a day - today it kills 30,000. And now this generation has the capacity to end chronic poverty in our time.

World Vision will continue to work with the public to fight the causes of poverty. But we will also highlight that it was not the public nor aid organisations that committed to boost aid to 0.7 per cent. It was our government and our failure to act on this continues to be a moral failure for our nation.

Tim Costello is chief executive of World Vision Australia.