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We need to cut our foreign aid budget to help for the reconstruction of Queensland and to help Queenslanders get back on their feet.
There are three main reasons why we should look for savings within the aid budget.
First, the aid budget is set to undergo a massive increase in the next few years and there is room for cuts. Currently, according AusAID, the agency that hands out our foreign aid, our aid budget is about $4.3 billion. According to AusAID projections, this will increase to $4.84 billion in 2011-12; $5.53 billion in 2012-13; $6.44 billion in 2013-14; $7.42 billion in 2014-15; and $8.49 billion in 2015-16.
It has a population of 6.3 million. It is one of Australia’s two really large recipients of aid.
We are its largest trading partner. It is our 19th. It’s about 400 times closer to us than New Zealand.
Yet for some reason our media and public discourse doesn’t seem to rate the importance of Papua New Guinea. On this website a search on Papua New Guinea yields 23 hits compared to 35 for Spain, 76 for South Africa and 94 for Iran.
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Fred says:
Why are we the big wealthy neighbour not helping more to integrate the 10 000 asylum seekers on the border with the west? Read more »
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stephen says:
Are you suggesting that we are part of a larger ignorance : America and South America, and England and Ireland etc ? Well I think you’re right, and I’ve often said that we ignore these closer states at our disadvantage. One of the signs of cultural ignorance (and indeed immaturity),… Read more »
Kokoda has claimed more Australian lives this year than Afghanistan.
During the last week two trekkers died on the Kokoda Trail, a couple more were evacuated by helicopter and fourteen went down with food poisoning. Yesterday a campsite that took years to build at Ofi Creek was burned to the ground over an argument between two landowners.
Land disputes now block the wartime trail over the ‘golden staircase’ and Iorabaiwa Ridge – the closest the Japanese army got to Port Moresby in 1942.
The Kokoda Trail, which held so much potential as a model for sustainable eco-tourism in Papua New Guinea is beginning to choke on its own success.
Continue reading "Consultants are killing the Kokoda Trail" »
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Pete says:
Charlie: I note with interest you have again tried to personalise this discussion and “play the man rather than the ball” which seems fairly consistent in the way you have answered criticism in this blog so far.In earlier discussions you asked have I trekked Kokoda and with which company? I… Read more »
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Charlie Lynn says:
David, Great stuff mate - but where was the satphone when they had the emergency? Where was their VHF radio? Where was their rear link in Port Moresby? Why did their trek leader send me a message asking to use my satphone or radio to call for help? Why didn’t… Read more »
For many it is a pilgrimage and for some it is an honourable adventure.
Thousands of Australians each year make the journey to Papua New Guinea in honour of our fallen World War 2 diggers. Each journey is bedevilled with anticipation and anxiety, for walking the Kokoda track is tough and grinding.
The mountains between Port Moresby and Kokoda are forbidding. The towering peaks of green thick foliage and tall trees closely linked to the sheer cliffs dwarf the intermittent rainforests of the range, and the narrow and deep valleys with their raging rivers pose the ultimate challenge during wet weather crossing.
Continue reading "Kokoda pilgrims made the ultimate sacrifice" »
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Josh says:
I have to point out that the poor souls who died were not fighting an Australian enemy so I don’t think the title ‘Ultimate Sacrafice’ really covers this situation. I feel for the family’s loss but I believe you needed a better title. Read more »
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DWest says:
pete m - to clarify your judgements of my ‘rascist rant’, they were comments made by a scarred jungle fighter from 2 generations ago, pre - political correctness. I called them out as being rascist - I chose not to repeat the actual slurs. We can all get along in… Read more »
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