Australia’s bid to become a ‘multilateral player’ in Indo-Pacific at risk over lack of funding
- More money is needed to provide aid and host events such as climate change conferences, says the aid sector’s top official of a revised foreign aid policy
- Australia’s new strategy also doesn’t offer ‘tangible commitments’ on lifting people out of poverty, and fails to address the lack of real funding growth, experts say
Australia has refreshed its international development programme with a focus on climate change and poverty eradication projects, but experts say a lack of new funding may jeopardise its success and its function to wield more influence in the region.
But regardless of whether Australia’s latest initiative was targeted at countering China’s influence, to execute the programme properly there needed to be more funding, said chief executive of the aid sector’s peak body Australian Council for International Development’s (ACFID) Marc Purcell.
“Is the budget enough? No, it’s not, and we need to do more,” he said, given Australia’s ambitions to extend aid into Southeast Asia and South Asia alongside the Pacific nations.
For the 2023-24 financial year, Australia allocated A$1.4 billion (US$900 million) from its overseas development funding to the Pacific, and just over A$700 million to Southeast Asia. This has been official since the May budget and the programme announced on Tuesday outlined the blueprint for this budget rather than new funds.