By Tim Costello
Chief Executive
World Vision Australia

This Federal election campaign has made history. It is the first in my memory in which overseas aid has featured so prominently.

The fact that both major parties were forced to defend their positions on overseas aid – and Australia’s failure to meet its international promises – is a tribute to the Make Poverty History campaign.

When the leaders of both parties participated in the web cast to 700 churches across the country they were asked about overseas aid. They have been quizzed repeatedly about it in media interviews as well as in countless electorates throughout the campaign.

It is disappointing however that despite evidence of a significant movement for change, both the major parties failed to redress Australia’s lagging aid performance to meet the target our nation committed to in 2000 as part of the Millennium Development Goals – the world’s blueprint to halve chronic poverty by 2015.

There was good news when the Opposition pledged to boost aid to 0.5% of Gross National Income (GNI) by 2015. This commitment would double the amount of aid we give. While not the 0.7% of GDP that our government promised to the world’s poor in 2000, it is the minimum amount required to achieve the Millennium Development Goals.

Perhaps rock star campaigner Bob Geldof put it most starkly when he said Australia’s level of government-funded overseas aid was “embarrassingly pathetic”.

Historically, Australia has traditionally punched above its weight in international affairs. Both sides of the political divide have contributed greatly to international action: to end apartheid in South Africa; to create the International Criminal Court; to aid successful elections in Cambodia; to pressure for change in Zimbabwe; as well as the critical interventions in East Timor and the Solomon Islands.

Australia’s leading role in the Cairns Group which has pressured for free trade to help poorer nations is also laudable.

Unfortunately over the last decade we have failed to show international leadership on the critical issue of our level of overseas aid. Australia is badly lagging behind other developed nations on the level of overseas aid it gives, ranking equal 15th out of 22 of the world’s richest countries.

Australia’s overseas aid is an investment in our future, not simply charity. Well-targeted overseas aid increases people’s access to basic health and education; it builds basic infrastructure that increases economic growth and creates jobs. It also builds demand in our nearest neighbours for good governance.

Boosting aid to 0.5% of GNI would have a profound impact in our backyard - the Pacific and in South Asia. The extra aid could allow Australia to do all of the following: reduce child deaths by 140,000 each year, cut maternal deaths by 4,200, lead to at least 29,000 fewer deaths from AIDS and 31,000 fewer deaths from TB each year. It could also provide access to safe drinking water for almost 37 million people.

Creating jobs for people in their own countries will reduce refugees. Promoting improved agricultural techniques and alternative fuel sources will reduce environmental degradation and climate change. Increasing the incomes of people in our region will create new markets for Australian businesses.

This is one of the reasons that some of Australia’s largest corporations are becoming much more interested in reducing poverty in our region. A recent report by Allen Consulting Group warned that poverty in the Asia Pacific region would directly threaten the prosperity of corporate Australia.

The report prompted business leaders to urge the Federal Government to partner with corporate Australia in fostering more effective investment in emerging markets in the Asia Pacific.

It is in our own interests to ensure stability and growth in the countries that surround us. It is also in our interests to do what we can to foster environmental sustainability and adherence to human rights in the emerging superpowers of Asia.

Last year, 15,000 people attended the Make Poverty History concert in Melbourne, while earlier this year almost 102,000 Australians joined more than 43 million people worldwide to Stand Up Against Poverty. Almost one million people have bought the white wristbands that are the symbol of the Make Poverty History campaign.

This is an issue Australians understand. It is an issue people care about. It is my hope that it will now be an issue that increasingly captures the attention of our political leaders – whoever is in power.