As the 2015 Budget revealed, Australia’s foreign aid to Africa has been cut by 70 per cent and the contribution to Indonesia nearly halved.
The government has announced massive cuts to foreign aid — with the 2015 Federal Budget set to cut foreign aid by almost $1 billion next year.
Australia’s contributions to Sub-Saharan Africa will drop by a staggering 70 per cent, while the Indonesian aid budget has been cut by 40 per cent, news.com.au reports.
Think that sounds fair or necessary? Well, Australian comedian and host of The Weekly, Charlie Pickering takes just five minutes to blow every argument for reducing foreign aid out of the water in this segment from The Project last week.
How much do you think Australia spent on aid prior to the 2015 Budget? 20%, 10%? The answer is actually 0.22% (a number that, even if you double it, is still rounded down to zero). As Pickering points out, aid is such a small piece of the Budget pie that we’re actually giving the bits of the piece that are stuck to the knife when you cut it…
Get all the facts here:
Did some of these facts about foreign aid surprise you?
Top Comments
Very good Charlie Pickering. Australia has been so blessed by natural resources, good governance and the very hard work of our forebears. We need to show that gratitude by giving to others who have not been so blessed. When we carefully choose who we give the money to, we can be sure that it does not fall into corrupt hands.
What about the poverty and illiteracy in our own country? Do a google search about literacy rates in Tasmania. It's appalling. We should be using our skills and our money to invest in our own country. How about we fix that first before bitching about not giving our money away to end up in the back pockets of corrupt foreign government officials? Take it from someone who's seen it happen.