Australia stands by neighbours but missed the opportunity to step up

Last night’s Federal Budget was a missed opportunity for Australia to step up to the challenge of the times and act on our values by increasing our aid budget and ability to support girls and communities in crisis.

We welcome the clear signal in the budget that Australia is engaging with regional partners and committed to continuing to be a reliable partner that invests in our region, including through measures on economic resilience, health resilience, and climate action. A new Pacific Strong program responding to sexual and gender-based violence in the Pacific region is particularly welcome.

Also welcome is renewed commitment to respond to the humanitarian crises unfolding in Myanmar, where there has been recent escalation, and in Bangladesh, where more than one million Rohingya, and the communities that host them, need our continued support. Plan International works with communities in both countries and Australia’s essential support continues to save and improve lives.

However, right now, we’re at a tipping point: it’s becoming more dangerous to be a girl in many places around the world, and the growing climate crisis and recent aid cuts by other rich countries are making this worse.

The Government has let the opportunity to meaningfully meet this moment pass it by with this budget. The investments outlined above are overwhelmingly being met through existing funding, meaning that money is being pulled from elsewhere in the development budget, and there are significant gaps where Australia could have chosen to step up but has not.

Plan is one of the few humanitarian agencies still supporting communities in crisis in Sudan, the world’s fastest growing and largest displacement crisis, as well as the world’s largest hunger crisis, with famine declared in several parts of the country. To make matters worse, almost 30 per cent of the aid funding going to Sudan came from the US and has now been frozen. Last night’s budget is a missed opportunity to build on our previous support and commit more to support girls and communities in this terrible crisis.

Likewise, Australian funding for the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine (UNWRA) has remained static, even as the conflict destroying Gaza resumes and needs increase yet further.

Australia’s current funding in response to the climate crisis falls significantly below our fair share, based on global agreements. The budget missed the opportunity to meaningfully lift Australia’s investment in climate action – through further contribution to critical global climate funds and support to government, local organisations, and communities in our region to adapt and respond to the realities of climate change.

Overall, Australia’s international aid is at its lowest level ever, proportionate to the Federal Budget. As of last night’s budget, we are spending just 0.65% of our national budget on international assistance. At a time when others are stepping back, leaving girls and communities in our region and around the world in greater need, we had the opportunity to step up and do more.

Australia is a prosperous and generous nation that understands that we have a contribution to make to global stability and equality. We welcome that the Government has stood by our values as a nation and maintained our commitment to international assistance. However, last night’s Budget was an opportunity for Australia to step up and step in to increase our critical support girls, their families and communities in our region.

We’ve let that opportunity go and girls and their communities will be worse off as a result.