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Barnaby’s on his own with comments on foreign aid

Andrew Hewett

by Andrew Hewett

04 Feb 04:12pm

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Filed under: Barnaby Joyce, Budget, Charity, Foreign Aid, Politics

85 comments

For a politician who prides himself on his relationship with Australian voters, Barnaby Joyce’s comments this week on foreign aid are, frankly, un-Australian.

Barnaby Joyce takes a sip of water at the Press Club yesterday. Pic: Gary Ramage

Senator Joyce used a speech at the National Press Club yesterday to suggest that $50 million in aid that will help people with little or no food in poor countries deal with rising food prices should instead be spent on lowering food prices in Australia.

This year Australia’s foreign aid spending will total just $3.8 billion – or only about 0.35 per cent of our gross national income. That’s 35 cents in every $100. In the context of the Australian Government’s overall budget, we’re talking about a very small amount. Our Government has enough money to fund this, while also spending on essential services here.

Unlike Senator Joyce, Australians have shown time and time again that helping those that are less fortunate than us can be done while we are also helping ourselves. One does not have to be done at the expense of the other.

Over the past few weeks at Oxfam, we’ve seen an incredibly generous response to the devastation caused by the earthquake in Haiti. Our Haiti earthquake appeal has so far received more than $1.5 million dollars from people who want to do their bit to help – and I know many other aid agencies have received similarly generous responses.

Globally Australians rank amongst top four most generous givers to international development charities. When it comes to individual giving, we’re just behind the Americans, who are well known for their philanthropic tendencies.

However, when it comes to our Government spending on aid, Australia still isn’t pulling its weight. As a proportion of our gross national income (GNI) our official overseas development spending still lags behind many developed nations, including Britain, Ireland, Spain, Germany and France.

The Rudd Government has made a welcome promise to increase government aid spending to 0.5 per cent of GNI by 2015. Tony Abbott has today reiterated that this is a bi-partisan commitment, but we are yet to hear Senator Joyce, who is a senior member of the Coalition, retract his comments. Even at 0.5 per cent in 2015, Australia will still not be pulling our weight – most developed nations have pledged aid spending of 0.7 per cent of GNI by 2015.

Before the earthquake hit Haiti, more than 80 per cent of the country was living in poverty. Now, around three million people need help to find shelter, food, clean water and sanitation. Foreign aid spending from Australia will be part of this effort and that’s something Australians should rightly feel proud about.

Around the world right now, a billion people are going hungry. Most of these are people who live in countries with no social security nets and for whom a small increase in the price of food means making heartbreaking choices about what they can afford.

Australians know that we can spare $50 million to help these people. In this election year, it will be a real shame if Senator Joyce doesn’t.

Most commented

418Australia, you have nothing to fear but fear itself
353"Gifting", "journey" and other words we hate
311Thomson didn't answer the question everyone is asking
262Who murdered the Arts degree?
246A big day for Thomson, who thus far is guilty of nothing...
231Craig Thomson speaks. Meanwhile, in Australia...
230South Australia. It's the middle bottom bit.
224The most laughable, err, spoof since Einfeld

85 comments

Show oldest | newest first

    • stephen says:

      03:36pm | 04/02/10

      I have no fear that Senator Joyce will be nowhere
      near the talkers after the next election.
      So let him talk now.( We have seen what stuff he’s made of.)

      Reply

    • Eric says:

      03:43pm | 04/02/10

      Oxfam is a left-wing political lobby group. It should be neither funded nor believed.

      The majority of ‘aid’ to third world countries goes into the pockets of bureaucrats and warlords. This is the real problem that is concealed by the highly-paid officials of aid agencies.

      How much are you paid per year, Andrew Hewitt?

      Reply

    • Peter Simmons says:

      05:13pm | 04/02/10

      Have already asked Andrew why 55% of donations go to “Admin Fees”.

      Naturally no answer.

      Reply

    • MH says:

      10:13am | 05/02/10

      It’s very easy to find the information that explains exactly where Oxfam’s funding goes. Only 10% goes to administration costs.

      Best to get your facts right with a little bit of research before making ridiculous claims about a very worthy organisation that implements programs to assist people to pull themselves out of poverty and helps people affected by natural disasters all over the world.

    • eye4aneye says:

      05:54pm | 25/02/10

      Eric - I’m beginning to think we got our brains from the same shop (yours looks to be somewhat more articulate though). Agree 100%.

      I’ll add an anecdote about a street charity collecor:

      Me: Do you get paid anything for this?
      after much umming and arring Collector: yes
      Me: Do you donate to this charity?
      Collector: no answer (walking off)

      Before I get flamed, yes I do donate to charity around $1000 dollars a year most of which goes to a local animal shelter where I can walk in and give the money directly to the people running the shelter and walk around and see what it’s spent on.

    • Justin Davies says:

      05:33pm | 04/02/10

      Excellent work Eric,

      Mr Hewett, I think you would be well advised to read Ron Paul’s book ‘The Revolution’ and note his comments on government aid. It is just unconscionable that the government of a nation taxes it’s citizens and then gives that money away to overseas charities.  He has a very good point!  Senator Joyce’s comments taken in context make complete sense. How is it fair on the Australian public to borrow money and then give away?  Not to mention then spending the next decade servicing the debt on the borrowings!! The government’s responsibility is to its citizens. That is not an uncharitable statement, especially when you take into consideration those living in poverty in Australia. 

      Individuals or private businesses with philanthropic spirit and spare cash are perfectly entitled to donate money to their cause of choice, and your job I assume is to encourage that. Barnaby Joyce is doing his when he tries to protect the interests of Australians.

    • AJ says:

      10:33pm | 04/02/10

      under $200,000 to run a multinational charity that operates in dozens of countries, replete with logistical nightmares and multitudinous bureaucracies?  That’s a low, low, low figure.

      Rather than criticising Mr Hewett, I say we put him in charge of Telstra.  At least then the criticism of him would be somewhat justified.

    • bella starkey says:

      03:47pm | 04/02/10

      Why is Barnaby Joyce always sunburnt?

      Reply

    • yo! says:

      09:34pm | 04/02/10

      Thats a very good question considering his head is never where the sun shines?

    • fullmoistureprofile says:

      07:41am | 05/02/10

      bella, he actually gets out and has a go, as opposed to those who like to sit it out on the sidelines and complain about the game.

    • stephen says:

      07:46pm | 05/02/10

      ‘Cause he’s been strollin ‘round outside in circles lookin’ fer the dunny.

      PS Your from a private school ; you aughta’ no that.

    • Scot says:

      02:13pm | 07/02/10

      Bella and what abour Rudd, he exercises at night when people cannot see him inside the Lodge wearing a full body track suite. Sounds like vampire bat to me. Only comes out at night to eat all your fruit. At least Baranby is a real man.

    • Jacquie Butterfield says:

      03:47pm | 04/02/10

      If we need to help all those people who are going hungry, as we know that they are, how about we organise to dispense the funds not to local and other government officials.  This would then make the donation of foreign aid much more acceptable.  Blustering Barnaby’s comments will be very acceptable to the majority of people who are intensely bored by political-correct-dogoodspeak.  Having tried both sides of the dogood fence I’m moving back home.

      Reply

    • John A Neve says:

      03:49pm | 04/02/10

      Frankly I feel terms like “un-Australian” are so much hogwash. Along with mateship and a fair go, they are the stuff of myths and legend.

      Back to Barnaby, this would be the first and possibly only time I agree with him. Most of the foreign aid never get to those that need it. If funds armies, polticians and their girlfriends. Many third world countries have better equip armies than we do.

      If and when all the problems here at home are sorted, then and only then should we be trying to help others. Spread yourself too thin and no one benefits.

      Reply

    • kevin wilding says:

      07:15pm | 04/02/10

      I find it difficult to take seriously these comments from Andrew Hewett, given that he might be seen to have a vested interest in the whole foreign aid arena.

      It’s convenient for him to label Barnaby Joyce as “un-Australian”, because he voices an opinion that directly challenges the status quo in relation to foreign aid. What exactly does he mean by this term? Does it apply to people who don’t have the same views as he does? Me thinks, perhaps so.

      Reply

    • Richard says:

      05:25pm | 25/02/10

      John - please provide evidence to statements like “Most of the foreign aid never get to those that need it. If funds armies, polticians and their girlfriends. Many third world countries have better equip armies than we do.”
      In my knowledge and expertise this is all “stuff of myths and legends”

    • eye4aneye says:

      06:05pm | 25/02/10

      Mostly agree - I think Australian tax dollars should be devoted to Australian needs. If people want to give to charities (as a great many Australians do and quite generously) they do it from their pockets they should’t have their taxes go to charities or programs beyond their control.

    • Michael says:

      03:50pm | 04/02/10

      It actually goes to show what little grasp of economics Barnaby has. subsidising our own food only results in a false economy over the long term.

      His statements do give me a laugh though.

      Reply

    • Stephen says:

      04:46pm | 05/02/10

      Better to subsidise our own needs before we throw our money to the wind when heaps of it ends up in the wrong place,such as so called administration fees of various organisations or directly in the hands of dictators etc

    • SM says:

      03:51pm | 04/02/10

      “This year Australia’s foreign aid spending will total just $3.8 billion – or only about 0.35 per cent of our gross national income. That’s 35 cents in every $100. In the context of the Australian Government’s overall budget, we’re talking about a very small amount. Our Government has enough money to fund this, while also spending on essential services here. “

      Do they Andrew?  How do you know that?  You haven’t defined essential, you’ve just arbitrarily decided that “we have enough money” based on the percentage of GNI that the aid represents.  That’s as mindless as your assertion that the Minister is “un-australian” for holding a different point of view to your own.  That’s embarrassing, and I’d reckon that your colleagues at Oxfam would be entitled to expect far better representation from their executive director

      Reply

    • James says:

      12:11pm | 05/02/10

      What fool really believes that foreign aid is designed to help foreigners anyway?  The reason we give aid is so that Australian companies can score lucrative contracts overseas.  It called conditionality.  Dur.

      Reply

    • Dave says:

      04:07pm | 05/02/10

      SM.
      Barnaby Rubble isn’t a MINISTER just yet.  And unless they gag and tie him up pretty soon, there won’t be a Minister from that side of politics for a long, long time.

    • Phil says:

      03:54pm | 04/02/10

      Andrew

      Not many would disagree with our overseas aid. Howver as I understand it Barnaby was referring to the fact that we are borrowing money from China and the rest of the world to send to various overseas countries and then paying interest on that money. He also alludes correctly I believe that many of these countries have corrupt dictatorships, which abuse the aid, and buy presidential planes/palaces and luxuries for themselves at the expense of the very people our aid is targeted at.

      For instance, in Haiti, I am sure that the aid goes on food etc, but that means that the government can be lazy about their business because there citizens will be looked after. Many of these dictatorships are also corrupt.

      Haiti also is 1/3 of an island the other side the dominican republic which is prosperous and pouring with money, as they have learnt to be self sufficient. (Not bad cigars either)

      As I advocate for welfare/government handouts to even Australian citizens and also for aid, it should be a hand up not a hand out. Simply giving for the sake of giving does nothing to assist these unfortunate people with a sense of self worth. They seem to be of the opinion that polulation growth will get them out of poverty when in fact it just keeps ties them more and more into it. 

      If instead of giving food every year aid agencies attempted to get economic activity to eventually get the countries ahead would help more than just giving money to these dictatorships. Did not Haiti have a dictator who fled with billions of dollarrs worth of assets?

      Reply

    • formersnag says:

      03:59pm | 04/02/10

      What utter rubbish. Loony left pandering of this type with vast amounts of money being donated to various countries has been going on for decades & is the problem! Band Aid solutions that only treat the symptoms without curing the disease. Corrupt regimes usually misappropriate most of the money, in other words you end up funding the continued abuse their poor downtrodden people.

      Meanwhile aboriginal people continue living in squalor because of a more sophisticated version of exactly the same thing, bloated bureaucracy wastes most of the money on “administration”.

      Reply

    • John Cribbes says:

      04:07pm | 04/02/10

      There speaks a very wealthy person!
      Barnaby Joyce was making the point that we are now operating on overdraft. We no longer have cash at the bank.
      Instead of improving our capacity to generate income we have built school halls. We have thrown money away rather than make sure it works for us in the longer term.
      Sure we can borrow funds to give away overseas but it is our kids that will have to pay it back. Joyce, in remarkably plain speech demonstrates the inability of socialist government to make money work for the good of the nation.
      They look to the next election instead.
      George Washington remarked that God loves idiots so much he made lots of them. WE elected them to the ALP and the Liberals.

      Reply

    • Captain Moonlight says:

      01:03am | 06/02/10

      Hang on a minute; where in the hell would you find a ‘socialist’ party in mainstream Australian politics? We live in a stable, two-party western democracy; the classic ‘tweedle-dee/tweedle-dum’ (or ‘dumber’ in certain, obvious cases). Given that, from about 1969 onwards, Whitlam moved the Labor party into the centre; accepting the essential ‘rules’ of the capitalist political game in the process and Hawke and Keating continued the transformation in the 80s and 90s, any talk of a ‘left-right’ dichotomy in this country is superfluous. We have a stable western capitalist centre party on one hand and, in a desperate attempt to distinguish itself from the ‘new middle’, a party that increasingly flirts with dangerous political tendencies brought to prominence in Europe in the 20s and 30s, on the other. In a very real sense the Australian Labor party caused the creation of the (modern… well, reactionary) “Liberal” party. Devoid of anywhere to go in terms of actual policy initiatives, in government the conservatives have had to keep the focus on economics and the politics of expediency; the politics of ‘whatever-the-hell-we-need-to-do-to-stay-in-office’. You couldn’t possibly be as stupid as you appear (and be able to find your way to the shops and back) so I assume your role here is to perpetuate the dissemination of ‘disinformation’. Don’t worry, I don’t think anyone else has noticed; your secret’s safe with me.

    • SD says:

      04:24pm | 04/02/10

      We can directly influence the amount that the Federal Government spends on foreign aid.

      To explain:  I recently gave $100 to Oxfam for the Haiti appeal. I will get 100% of my donation back as a tax deduction (so much for my “generosity”!)

      Quite simply - if you are unhappy with the Federal Government’s foreign aid contribution - donate the money yourself and claim it back.

      Reply

    • dave says:

      08:55pm | 04/02/10

      actually you will get a $100 credit and probably get $30 back

    • persephone says:

      07:33am | 05/02/10

      Oh dear. An accountant worth his salt (not Barnaby) would point out that spending pre tax dollars in this way is false economy.

      Say you’ve got $100 in your pocket. You’ve paid out another $30 in tax for that $100 in earnings (more, really, but we’ll try and keep it simple).

      You then give $30 of that $100 to a charity and claim it back.

      So now you’ve paid out a total of $60 ($30 original tax and $30 to the charity) to get $30 back.

      Donate to charities out of the goodness of your heart, and by all means claim it back. Just don’t fool yourself that you’re saving money by doing so.

      Disclaimer: don’t guarantee the maths. Just know my accountant thinks people are mad when they engage in tax saving initiatives for the purposes of getting back their tax.

    • Biff says:

      04:30pm | 04/02/10

      May we ask: where did the money go?

      According to Professor David Osterfeld of St Joseph’s College in Rensselaer, Indiana:

      The total net transfer of capital, private and public, from the West to the Third World between 1950 and 1985 amounted to the staggering sum of over $2 trillion in 1985 prices. Private investment accounted for about 25 percent of this total, but its share has fallen from about 40 percent in the 1950s to only about 16 percent in the 1980s. The $2 trillion…was enough to purchase not only all the companies on the New York Stock Exchange but, in addition, the entire American farm system.

      Zambian-born economist Dambisa Moya chimes in with the fact that between 1970 and 1998, when aid flows to Africa were at their peak, poverty in Africa rose from 11% to a staggering 66%.

      Foreign aid is slowing strangling some countries.

      Reply

    • Tom says:

      11:05am | 05/02/10

      You’re not wrong. Also read some William Easterly, perhaps a slightly more articulate version of Dambisa Moyo.

      Humanitarian aid in situations such as the Haiti earthquake should continue, but development aid is largely harmful. It allows despotic governments to finance themselves without having to raise tax. The flipside of ‘no taxation without representation’ is that you also get ‘no representation without taxation’. Hence, aid dependent governments can operate immune to the pressures that would be imposed upon them by taxpayers. It acts to entrench corrupt regimes, and stifles progress.

      No country has managed to develop using development aid. Countries such as the Asian Tiger economies developed using targeted assistance to domestic industries and gradual liberalisation - in other words, domestic development strategies. Meanwhile aid recipient countries have remained mired in extreme poverty.

    • MarK says:

      11:59am | 05/02/10

      It is good to think about what we do, Aid should be question and scrutineered, Where it is going, is it effecttive, is it causing harm, But 2 Trillion is not a staggering large sum, please rmemeber that this 2 Trillion has come from only a fraction of 1% of the Developed worlds wealth. Gee i wonder how they didnt catch up with their 0.5% when we kept spending the other 99.5% on ourselves.

      Interesting you mentioned the American Farm system, as farm susbidies are are MUCH MUCH bigger form of currption and deserve much more of the credit for thrid world poverty than even the most greedy extravagent dictator. By Destroying agriculture, and the ability of a county to feed itself, you take away the first step of development. Over a period of a decade a country, farm subsidies combined with poor policy decisons of the local government can go from a agrarian powerhouse to completely dependant on food aid.

    • Tom says:

      01:27pm | 05/02/10

      MarK, no doubt the E.U. and US farm subsidies have a devastating effect on 3rd world agriculture, especially when the excess production is dumped on the 3rd world through the UN World Food Program. Still, the fact remains that there is little to no evidence to suggest development aid is of any benefit, whilst there is evidence to suggest it may be harmful.

    • Steve of Cornubia says:

      04:38pm | 04/02/10

      Given Rudd’s penchant for promising the earth (literally) but forgetting his promises once the camera is turned off, I would suggest that you avoid making plans to spend that extra money Rudd has promised.

      Reply

    • Peter Simmons says:

      04:40pm | 04/02/10

      1 Billion dollars to Indonesia for a Tsunami.  Not $1.00 accounted for.

      Foreign Aid to Dictatorial Countries should be stopped.
      We are still sending money into Mugabwe’s pockets.

      Well said Barnaby

      Reply

    • James says:

      12:21pm | 05/02/10

      Indonesia is a democracy.  The aid that goes to Zimbabweans is actually given to South Africa - another democracy - to help the millions of Zimbabwean refugees who are in South Africa because they are fleeing from Mugabe’s regime.  We recently cut aid to the government in Fiji because it is currently a military government.  Facts help.

    • Fed Up says:

      04:40pm | 04/02/10

      I think Barney throws these manifestations out there to gain a hook in the electorate.
      He’s looking for an issue, any issue that will appeal to the greedy prejudices within our society with which he can politically benefit.

      Reply

    • Dick J says:

      04:43pm | 04/02/10

      How about Rudd tells us how he is going to pay the interest on the spendathon-$8billion annually and then pay the debt. Somethings gotta give. Remember he accused Howard of spending madly- what’s that make Rudd.

      How much for the 114 hangers on in Copenhagen?
      Broardband fiasco waste
      School halls not needed.
      $900 bucks

      Bloody hell its all borrowed and his solution, blamed the aged, increased productivity = increase population, ETS crock and churn, tax and reduce services. He’s gonna leave this place in a mess.Best he go asap.

      Reply

    • AJ says:

      10:42pm | 04/02/10

      When, oh when, will the conservatives come to grips with how close we came to a run on the banks, a collapse in consumer confidence and a jump in unemployment to match that of the US/UK?  As much as I don’t like Rudd, a number of eminent CONSERVATIVE papers/magazines, including the Economist and the Wall Street Journal laud the Australian Government for prompt, effective action.  Not to mention that even if Rudd didn’t spend a single cent of stimulus (thus throwing our economic fortunes to the wind), the deficit would still be huge, due to decreased tax receipts and increased spending on unemployment benefits.

      Hows about you all stop reading off the song-sheets of ‘Great Big New Tax’ and ‘Labor’s debt’ and go and do some, you know, thinking.

    • T.Chong says:

      05:14pm | 04/02/10

      Damn for-en -urs deliberately living in poverty, or with natural disasters or corrupt govts.
      Cut out aid, that’ll teach ‘em, particularly the poor, sick and powerless.
      Those who bag Oxfam etc are correct. We should simply give money to corrupt govts via the AWB. The Howard govt had absolutely no problem with any of that.
      Cut out the middle man,just like the LNP did , right Barnaby?

      Reply

    • Brian B says:

      05:20pm | 04/02/10

      Personally I find the frank and open remarks made by Mr. Joyce and Mr. Abbott a refreshing change from the forktongued gibberish sprouted by Mr. Rudd and cohorts.

      I have long been concerned with the apparently unaccountable process of distributing aid funds. Mr. Joyce also has a valid argument in pointing out the appalling amount of debt the Labor Party has managed to run up to date.

      Reply

    • Dean says:

      05:36pm | 04/02/10

      Rudd knows his name is mud, all the popularity polls won’t mask the lame legacy he will leave behind!

      Reply

    • Brett says:

      05:45pm | 04/02/10

      The opposition has got my vote again on this. Only last week we gave away 170 Million to South Africa to help them with Zimbabwe. Why?
      The Smith Family claim we have 3,000 Australian Children living in poverty.  Kids who cannot afford to have lunch at school or clothes and being tormented at school because of it.  I know how they because I was the same as a child.
      Bob Hawke “By 1990 No Australian Child will live in Poverty” What crap!
      Barnaby Joyce has hit the nail on the head.
      You Mr Hewett with your six figure salary company car and overseas trips MAKE ME SICK!

      Reply

    • persephone says:

      02:21pm | 05/02/10

      So have they lost it again, now that Abbott has said it’s all nonsense?

    • Richard says:

      05:43pm | 25/02/10

      24,000 kids will die every day from preventable diseases like diarrhea. We need to focus on both local and international issues.

      Whilst you might have been tormented at school Brett, imagine if you were born into a developing country and never made school.

    • Evan Findlay says:

      06:33pm | 04/02/10

      The guy is a babbling buffoon. Watching him yesterday at the press club was like watching a train wreck in slow motion, over and over and over. I can see why he took up politics because as an accountant he would be laughable, very much like his grasp on mathematics yesterday. When I first heard him in parliament I thought he might make a difference to conservative politics. I was right but just not for the reasons you would think. If you ever wondered how the Joh for Canberra push would have evolved, I think we are about to find out.

      Reply

    • Vanessa says:

      07:04pm | 04/02/10

      I have no problem giving to foreign aid * IF *  it is to fund sterilisation or contraceptive programs.  These poor countries keep churning out babies that they cannot feed. 

      Bob Geldolf wanted to Feed the World some 25 years ago.  Guess what?  They are still starving and living in poverty. 

      Why should we be pouring money into countries that cannot support themselves and continue to add to the over-population of the earth? 

      Bugger climate change - the real threat to humanity is over-population.

      Reply

    • Greg says:

      07:17pm | 04/02/10

      200 years ago Australia was a struggling colony,barley able to feed itself, didnt know how to deal with the different seasons and had virtual slave labour of convicts and dealing with a wilderness the like of which Europeans had never encounted.
      What state were the countries that ask us for money in at the same time? Yet they had been around for so much longer (not geoligicaly speaking)
      Through hard work we built a country the envy of the world.
      What were the countries asking for our money doing?
      Its not just about bad government, we had those too, but the people got rid of them…... remember the USA war of independance, the French civil war the British civil war, bringing down the Soviet Union even our own Eureka stockade changed our govs attitude.
      Why did not these other countries do the same?
      Why should we pay them for being to gutless to do what we did? What had to be done.
      Giving them hand outs only prolongs their pain. Let them stand up and be counted. Pride comes from achievment not hand outs.

      Reply

    • Tony C says:

      07:37pm | 04/02/10

      If people want to donate then they should do so with their own money, not government money. If Australians are as generous as you suggest then they will continue to donate privately.

      We pay taxes to run the government, not to siphon donations to foreign countries.

      Anyway, Dambisa Moyo, a black african, says foreign aid is keeping africa poor due to dependence and government corruption. OxFam are a bunch of nutjobs working for the benefit of the UN agenda.

      Hand off my money you lunatic.

      Reply

    • Mr Angry says:

      08:35pm | 04/02/10

      Here come the pc brigade and the nanny state! so-called celebrities are taxing us because of K-RUDD incompetence. Come on elect Wilson Tuckey as prime minister. This is communism folks!!!!

      Reply

    • Ea The Rich says:

      08:51pm | 04/02/10

      This was always going to attract Punch’s bottom feeders.

      Reply

    • Eric says:

      08:41am | 05/02/10

      And here you are!

    • Razor says:

      09:47pm | 04/02/10

      . . . because foriegn aid has such a great rack record of relieving poverty and assisting non-currupt governments.

      Not.

      Reply

    • Joe Stephens says:

      09:52pm | 04/02/10

      How pathetic.. worried about $50m going overseas? LOL Our government wastes that on so many irrelevant things daily. I’d rather gamble that money by sending it to help a poor nation/dictator, than it being spent on creating a new park or helping someone on welfare.

      Reply

    • Davido says:

      10:05pm | 04/02/10

      Just $3.8 billion? I dont think that is too bad.

      I know we give tens of millions to a country (India) that has more billionaires than we do. (The third most of any country)

      I know a lot of the UN aid gets spent on $90,000 range rovers used to prance around the Indian Countryside. Seems like you could do with a few less of those.

      I also know the figures in this article only consider official aid. Not private aid.
      Thanks for ignoring our personal contributions.

      And thank you for the gratitude Oxfam. I will keep my $50 bucks next Christmas and give it someone who is thankful for it.

      Reply

    • Julian Thomas says:

      10:59pm | 04/02/10

      I dont blame barnaby here, if 2 mates go to meal, and neither has money or cash in atm account, and one goes just “ring the wife”, and have here transfer some equity from mortgage into the atm account, its a bit much

      Reply

    • David Ready says:

      11:18pm | 04/02/10

      How can BJ’s comments be un-Australian? Now that we are in deficit, all foreign aid is now somebody else’s money, not ours, as it’s now all borrowed. So now we are borrowing money to give away to countries who hate us in the main, and/or are building up their military, e.g. Indonesia.

      There’s so many services here which need funding first, e.g. child mental health in NSW, or aboriginal housing. There’s also up to 200000 Australians, homeless and on the streets each night. No Barnaby is bang on the money.

      Reply

    • agblaster says:

      06:33am | 05/02/10

      I hear from someone in Michin’s office they’re not best pleased with Senator Joyce for letting the cat out of the bag too soon.

      The Aid cuts they’ve actually factored in are eyepopping, but they hoped to keep it all under wraps.  Funny really, they know the bush-accountant is a bit liable to shoot his mouth off. 

      But then, if you’re aiming to take $3bill of taxpayer funds to spray around the big end of town on a dud ETS, who’s surprised? Gotta distract attention from that if they can. That’s $3 bill of ours!  Tools.

      Reply

    • Justy says:

      07:30am | 05/02/10

      What a mob of left wing radicals screaming at someone who is actually talking sense.The press hates Barnaby Joyce who talks straight and does know what he is talking about. They have highlighted a small part of his speech,taken it out of context and converted it to a huge reduction in foreign aid.
      When Australia is so deeply in debt that our living standards will drop in ahuge way, where will all you bleeding hearts be then.In the dole queue I suppose waiting for a free handout.
      We do give generously overseas and Barnaby Joyce would continue that line.He is just pruning excessive waste and trying to fix us up first.

      Reply

    • fehowarth says:

      08:01am | 05/02/10

      Mr. Joyce whole attitude to debt worries me.  He appears to have the attitude of the accountant he is.  What person,  family or business in this country does not use debt to prosper.  It is not the amount of debt that matters, it is whether we can service it or not.  Does anyone really believe that we cannot service the debt the country has.  Compare with most other countries, our debt is very low.

      Reply

    • E says:

      10:37am | 05/02/10

      its also about if its productive debt, if the income generated from the assets purchased with credit are greater than the interest incurred.
      Debt incurred to buy a plasma tv is simply makes the TV more expensive (once interest if factored in), its different to ‘prospering’.
      If Rudd has spent the money on something usefull (expanding ports, fixing bridges, new power infrastructure, science labs for schoos, reasearch and development…) then it would be ok to go into debt, because the expected return from these things is greater than the interest.
      However this money has been used in a cynical vote buying exercies and CFMEU ‘Labour Mates Economy’ spending, its essentially been wasted.

    • AFR says:

      10:53am | 05/02/10

      Please don’t put all of us accountants together! But I do agree with your comments. There is nothing wrong with debt per se. Nearly all of us will have a mortgage at some stage or another, or borrow money to start a business etc. Joyce is a nutter, and a disgrace to those from the bush (like me) who actually have half a brain.

    • persephone says:

      02:25pm | 05/02/10

      Glad you approve of Rudd’s spending, E.

      I’m sure you do realise that Rudd has spent money on expanding ports, fixing bridges, new power infrastrucure, science labs for schools and research and development?

      So by your own definition it has been spent properly.

    • Isaac says:

      08:13am | 05/02/10

      So who says government have to do everything? Australian society is bigger than it’s government. And as Eric highlights, it’s not necessarily the best way to ‘help’. There is such a thing as addressing genuine problems in the wrong ways, and governments (particularly the Aust.) these days are typically masterful at stepping in when they shouldn’t.

      Reply

    • Ross says:

      10:52am | 05/02/10

      I would vote for Barnaby as the local version of Sarah Palin . I watched the program and still understand nothing he said.

      Reply

    • Scot says:

      12:06pm | 05/02/10

      Andrew Hewitt, Australia has plenty of money to give away. It seems you are no economist. The last time I looked Australia was up to its eye balls in debt and China had USD1.4Trillion in the bank?  Rudd cannot even sort out the indigenous issues he said he would. Maybe you shoud spend some time looking after your own back yard. Did you also stop to check why food prices have gone up. It is because grain has been used to manufacture bio-fuel and the side effects of this are worse than so call CO2 global warming? Rudd Labor is using money you dont have to buy himself face with the UN. He gave the Magabe government a pile of money last year.

      Reply

    • MH says:

      02:54pm | 05/02/10

      Scot: A quick look at the AusAID website (the Australian Government department that manages overseas aid) will inform you that Australia does not supply any aid directly to Zimbabwe.

      The very vast majority of aid is delivered directly to programs operating to assist the world’s poorest and most desperate people.

      Andrew Hewett and Oxfam Australia spend plenty of time looking at their ‘own backyard’. I recently donated money to Oxfam’s programs to improve Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples life expectancy outcomes and I am very satisfied that it was money well spent - they are doing some fantastic work in Indigenous communities around Australia and internationally.

    • Scot says:

      03:17pm | 05/02/10

      MH, So Australian aid was given to Zimbabe to Magabe through a third party. Does this mean its OK and you feel better, well good for you I do not?
      And why is OXFam having to do the work that the Rudd Labor Government should be doing themselves. Billions given away overseas. And if Wong gets her way AUD10B will also be thrown away very soon. Money Australia does not have? So sad.

    • Eric says:

      12:11pm | 05/02/10

      That’s sad. Perhaps a remedial school could help you?

      Reply

    • Scot says:

      12:12pm | 05/02/10

      Andrew has also not done his homework to note that USD2Triliion dollars in Aid has gone into Africa by these generous countries and what have they got to show for it. The outcomes are a disgrace. The UN is a failed organisation.

      Reply

    • James says:

      12:13pm | 05/02/10

      Our school needed the hall it got.

      Reply

    • Paul says:

      04:49pm | 05/02/10

      Yours would be the only one James

    • niki says:

      01:08pm | 05/02/10

      Good on Barnaby Joyce for standing up and saying we should lessen Foreign Aid !
      Kevin Rudd is borrowing Billions of dollars from China and giving much to Foreign Aid . So Australia borrows money from overseas just to give it away ?  Complete and utter madness for our children of the future to have to repay the money just so Rudd looks good in the eyes of the UN ........no wonder Rudd wants to Tax us more . Just look at the new taxes he has introduced and to add to that he wants to rip us off more by imposing a dreaded monster of a tax called the ETS .The Labor Government wont reveal how much this ETS will cost us UNTIL after the Election 2010 , are we totally stupid ?
      Those who voted for Kevin Rudd have fed a monster who is rapidly growing in power and taking your free speech away . Is that what you want ?

      Reply

    • Sonia says:

      01:44pm | 05/02/10

      Please let him speak, I had a best lough of my life.
      Amazing.

      Reply

    • Old Bloke says:

      02:49pm | 05/02/10

      What’s a lough?

    • niki says:

      06:53am | 06/02/10

      Sonia ,

      Kevin loves people like you , he depends on bimbos !

    • Ron Roberts says:

      03:38pm | 05/02/10

      What has been overlooked in all of this is that Africa has not generally been thought of being in Austrlaia’s sphere of influence. Asia however is, and we give generously to poorer countries there (and arguably should give more).

      So why are we giving to Asia in this part of the program? Well, the funding kicks off just before the next vote on the vacant slot on the UN Security Council, and Kevin Rudd needs the votes of African countries.

      Call me a cynic, but ...

      Reply

    • KeItHy says:

      05:32pm | 05/02/10

      Either the Liberal silver-spooners believe we are the lucky country or not! How can anyone vote for this guy unless they smoke crack and believe that they really are better than those who can’t afford ridiculously priced metrosexual attire?!!? I think that the harder core Liberal voters will not put up with this rot and that there will be a protest vote to force change!

      Reply

    • Bill says:

      05:39pm | 05/02/10

      Like him or hate him, Barnaby appeals to a large section of the community.  What you see is what you get, an admirable quality.  I am not party political, but was fortunate to speak with him one night and he is very down to earth and willing to listen.  If he was in my electorate he would have my vote anytime.

      Reply

    • acker says:

      10:24pm | 05/02/10

      Does Foreign Aid include spending $5 million on a un allocated Carbon Emissions reduction somewhere undefined in the world ??

      How about checking out Senator Wong’s Money for nothing (MTV) site thoroughly before you start chucking rocks at someone who just happened to have had a real job most of us can identify with like Barnaby

      Rather than the Solicitors..Solicitors..Barristers..Solicitors from all sides of politics who have descended on Political careers like Ambulance chasers

      Reply

    • Steve of Cornubia says:

      07:32pm | 06/02/10

      Sorry Andrew, looks like another ‘Fail’ - the comments above suggest that Barnaby is far from ‘on his own’......... grin

      Reply

    • eye4aneye says:

      06:08pm | 25/02/10

      Not like our health system could use another $3.8 billion anyway

      Reply

    • Sheftaffemi says:

      06:07am | 13/08/11

      Entirely punctilious size, in an riveting and accommodative during oopisane transmit poprarte gripping examples from proper life. 
      fotografia-warszawa i fotograf-warszawa

      Reply
 
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