Caritas Australia is disappointed by the Australian Government’s decision to cut $650 million from Australia’s official aid program in the 2013/14 financial year.
The decision was announced on January 18, with cuts set to reduce funding for programs in Africa, the Middle East, Latin America, and South and West Asia, as well as decreasing Government support for non-government organisations like Caritas.
“It’s very disappointing given the significant commitment that has been made in the last number of years and Australia’s very high standard internationally for its overseas aid program,” Caritas Australia’s CEO Paul O’Callaghan said.
Mr O’Callaghan said expenditure cuts were no surprise, but the amount was.
“To cut over $4 billion out of that program over the forward estimates is a very significant measure,” he said.
“We believe that there could have been other ways to achieve those sorts of savings without having such an adverse impact on what is a very highly regarded and well-functioning government aid program.
“We just believe that in concentrating so much of the cut or the savings in the aid area, that it was a disproportionate cut given the value of that program.”
In addition to the cuts to the aid program, the Government also decided to reduce the amount of funding promised by eight per cent as part of the partnership agreement with NGOs.
Mr O’Callaghan said the move undermines the confidence Caritas and other NGOs have in the predictability of the Federal Government as a partner.
“If you can’t rely on your partner, if you can’t be completely confident that they will definitely stick to the agreement they’ve signed with you, then it does have quite an effect on the way you plan for the future,” he said.
Fortunately, Caritas had anticipated the funding cuts several months in advance, Mr O’Callaghan said, making contingency plans so that no overseas communities the charity works with would be adversely affected.
“We made changes internally, including delaying a number of measures, delaying some staffing decisions… we did a whole series of administrative measures over the last seven months so that we would be capable of absorbing this impact,” he said.
The decision demonstrates that Australia now regards international aid as a low priority and is only happy to work with nearby countries, Mr O’Callaghan said.
“Australia traditionally has been capable of not only working with its immediate neighbours, but also doing some fantastic work as aid contributor in other parts of the world,” he said.
“We really urge the government to reflect further about the significance of its overseas aid budget and the standing of Australia.
“We think it is time to recalibrate things for this coming budget.”