Uncertain future: Australian aid to Afghanistan



Image source: Author's own

Australia’s Official Development Assistance (ODA) to Afghanistan has increased substantially over the past few years from $82.1 million in 2009–10 to a peak of $198.4 million in 2011–12. Afghanistan was the fourth largest recipient of Australian ODA in 2012–13 (after Indonesia, PNG and the Solomons) with an expected expenditure of about $182.8 million. This includes ODA-eligible expenditure by other government departments, including Immigration and Citizenship ($6.9 million), Defence ($9.2 million) and Attorney-General’s–Australian Federal Police ($17.7 million).

Regional Resettlement Arrangement (RSA) and Australian aid to Papua New Guinea

Image source: AusAID

Debate over the recent RSA agreement between Australia and PNG has resulted in the potential implications for Australia’s bilateral aid program being largely misinterpreted.

OECD Development Co-operation Peer Review: Australia 2013

Image source: OECD

On 6 May 2013, the Development Co-operation Directorate (DCD) of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) released the OECD Development Co-operation Peer Review: Australia 2013. The Development Assistance Committee (DAC) of the OECD carries out peer reviews of member countries’ aid programs approximately every four years. Australia’s last review was undertaken in 2008.

The current Review notes that since the 2008 Review, ‘AusAID has gone through the biggest change in its history’ which represents an ‘unprecedented reform of Australian development co-operation’ (p.13). The Review points out that 80 per cent (16 recommendations) of the 2008 Review has been implemented and 20 per cent (4 recommendations) partially implemented (pp. 9; 107–111).

'Reprioritising' Australia's aid budget



Image source: AusAID

In 17 December 2012, Foreign Minister Bob Carr announced that the government would report up to $375 million as support for asylum seekers waiting to have their claims heard in Australia. In effect this meant that $375.1 million would be diverted from the overall aid budget to the Department of Immigration and Citizenship. The reallocation represents an effective cut of 7.3 per cent to other elements of the aid budget. The Australian Federal Police and the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research also suffered cuts of 7.6 per cent to their respective aid budgets. Details of the revised Budget Estimate were released in the Portfolio Additional Estimates Statements 2012-13 (pp.102–105).

Independent review of aid effectiveness

On 16 November 2010, Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd announced an ‘Independent Review of Aid Effectiveness’ which will examine the effectiveness, efficiency and strategic direction of Australia’s aid program ‘in line with Australia’s national interests’.  It is expected to be completed by April 2011 and will be the first major review of the program since the Simons Review commissioned by the Howard Government in 1996.