Opinion piece: Tim Costello on doing right by our region

Hmmmm...generally a good piece, but I'd query some of the assertions..."improve agricultural techniques?" Maybe "improved logging practices" is more to the point! I'm also far from convinced that concert attendances and the wearing of fashion accessories is indicative of an interest in structural change! Finally...while I agree that aid and development assistance can reduce migration, I'm wary of linking aid and development, security, and migration too closely...it entrenches notions of "us vs them", and the idea that refugees are bad and a security threat...

Finally, I realise that there is a place for pragmatism, but I believe that there is also a place for compassion, a place for moral imperatives. While I think this is generally a great piece, and I generally argue in these terms myself, there is also another part of me that is disappointed that Tim - one of the few highly popular religious leaders this country has - would opt for arguments based on pragmatism, arguments based on "our" economic and physical security, over those based on compassion and moral imperatives. In Christian terms, part of me wishes he had be prophetic.

IT IS indisputable that many of the nations of the Pacific confront enormous challenges to overcome poverty, unrest and violence. The magnitude of
these challenges is underscored by World Vision research that shows 22 developing nations in the Pacific and South-East Asia are failing to meet one or many of the global goals set out to combat poverty through the United Nation's Millennium Development Goals.

One critical element in this failure has been the lack of properly targeted aid funding by rich nations, and a lack of predictability in the aid that has been given.

There is a global shortfall in overseas aid, causing United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to this week warn that the broken promises of developed nations were strangling efforts to eradicate poverty. And nowhere is this failure more critical for Australia than in its own neighbourhood, the Pacific and South-East Asia. In many ways Australia has dropped the ball in its handling of the challenges facing the Pacific region.

While we have helped to re-establish law and order in some of our nearest neighbours, like East Timor, the Solomon Islands and Papua New Guinea, if such interventions are to be successful in the long term, this must be the start of our help, not the end.

The next step is to tackle the underlying causes of the unrest — issues such as the lack of economic opportunities, the breakdown in local governance and the increasingly degraded environment. And while it is the right thing for Australia to do, it is also in our own interest. If we fail to assist in resolving these underlying issues, our troops will be back in very quick time.

This is why 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.

Therefore I welcome Opposition Leader Kevin Rudd's call for a rethink on
Australia's response to the economic and social problems of the Pacific. His commitment to boost overseas aid funding to 0.5 per cent of GNI by 2015 will double the amount of aid we give. While not the 0.7 per cent 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.

In the Pacific and in South-East Asia it has the potential to make a profound impact. If delivered, the extra aid could allow Australia to do all of the following: reduce child deaths by 140,000 each year, cut maternal deaths by 4200, reduce by at least 29,000 deaths from AIDS and by 31,000 deaths from tuberculosis each year. It could also provide access to safe drinking water to 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 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 Asia Pacific markets.

In Canberra last month the Business for Poverty Relief Alliance — which includes leading companies such as the ANZ Bank, Grey Global Group, IAG and Visy Industries — said the Government had a key role to play through our overseas aid program, which could be better targeted to create an environment that allows successful and socially sustainable investment.

Globally, the importance of foreign aid has not been lost on other world leaders. The new British Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, has made the fight against global poverty a key plank of his premiership.

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 and to press 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 pressed for free trade to help poorer nations, is also laudable. Unfortunately, over the past decade we have failed to show international leadership on the critical issue of levels of overseas aid.

Australia is badly lagging other developed nations on the level of overseas aid it gives, ranking equal 15th out of 22 of the world's richest countries. And while there were some welcome initiatives in the latest federal budget, there is a greater capacity to help — at relatively little cost and with the potential to reap benefits of our own.

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 sustainabilty and an adherence to human rights in the emerging superpowers of Asia.

No doubt Kevin Rudd's call for a rethink on the Pacific and a pledge to boost aid has been partly inspired by the massive support in Australia for the Make Poverty History campaign.

Last year, 15,000 people attended the Make Poverty History concert in Melbourne, while almost 100,000 Australians joined more than 23 million people worldwide to stand up for poverty, and more than 800,000 Australians bought white wristbands to show their support for the cause.

This is an issue Australians understand, 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.

Tim Costello is chief executive of World Vision Australia.