Australian Aid

Australia’s development program, DFAT

Agency overview
Formed	1 December 1973(1973-12-01)
Preceding agency	AusAID
Jurisdiction	Australian Government
Headquarters	Canberra,ACT,Australia
Employees	1,652 (April 2013)
Ministers responsible	Penny Wong,Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade Pat Conroy,Minister for International Development and the Pacific
Agency executive	Ewan McDonald, Head of the Office of the Pacific (OTP)
Parent department	Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade
Website	dfat.gov.au/development/australias-development-program

Australian Aidis thebrand nameused to identify projects in developing countries supported by theAustralian Government.As of 2014 theDepartment of Foreign Affairs and Trade(DFAT) has been responsible for Australia'sofficial development assistance(foreign aid) to developing countries.

TheAustralian Development Assistance Agency(ADAA) was founded in 1974 under theWhitlam government,renamed theAustralian Development Assistance Bureau(ADAB) in 1976, then theAustralian International Development Assistance Bureau(AIDAB) in 1987, before becoming theAustralian Agency for International Development,known asAusAID,in 1995. It was merged into DFAT without prior consultation by theAbbott governmentin 2014, with aid slashed to most regions apart from thePacific region.

History

Organisational changes

The agency saw a variety of names and formats. It was founded in 1974 under theWhitlamLaborgovernment as the Australian Development Assistance Agency (ADAA) to fulfil a role that had previously been the responsibility of several departments.One of the driving forces in its establishment wasSir John Crawford.At this time it was agovernment departmentwithin theMinistry for Foreign Affairs.It was renamed the Australian Development Assistance Bureau (ADAB) and brought under the Foreign Affairs and Trade portfolio in 1976 under theFraserLiberalgovernment.

It became the Australian International Development Assistance Bureau (AIDAB) under theHawkegovernment in 1987, before being renamed Australian Agency for International Development (AusAID) by theKeatinggovernment in 1995.

Soon after coming to power in September 2013, theAbbott governmentannounced the integration of AusAID with DFAT, which was effected in November 2013. According to a consultant's later report, "The merger was conducted with no prior analysis and without consultation, particularly with AusAID".The merger was fully implemented by June 2014, when Foreign MinisterJulie Bishopannounced a new paradigm for the Australian foreign aid program. She said that expanding opportunities for people, businesses and communities is the key to both promoting economic growth and reducing poverty. The aid program would now provide a sharper focus on investing in drivers of economic growth, including trade, infrastructure; education and health; and empowering women and girls to create new jobs and opportunities that lift people out of poverty. A later major stakeholder survey of the Australian aid program showed that the transition was as smooth as hoped, with staff continuity, staff expertise and predictability of funding all performing particularly poorly.

On Monday 21 September 2015, following a cabinet reshuffle by Australia's new Prime MinisterMalcolm Turnbull,a new Ministerial position was created to cover management of Australia's aid program.Steven Ciobobecame the first Minister for International Development and the Pacific, followed byConcetta Fierravanti-Wellssix months later.

Today

As of 2021"Australian Aid" is the branding used to identify projects supported by the Australian Government. The logo uses the name accompanied by akangaroo,available in various combinations of black, red, blue and white. The logo "must be used on all aid-related products and activities funded by the Australian Government. The Australian Aid identifier is used to badge Australia aid programs, projects and products".The program itself does not appear to be administered by a named unit, with information about Australian ODA on a DFAT web page titled "Australia’s development program".Ewen McDonaldis the inaugural Head of the Office of the Pacific (OTP),as one of six groups reporting to secretaryFrances Adamson.

Funding variations

There have been repeated cuts toofficial development assistance(ODA, defined as "financial aid given by governments and other agencies to support the economic, environmental, social, and political development of developing countries") since the inception of the first agency. The level of 0.47% ofgross domestic productduring the Whitlam years was slashed to 0.33% under theHawkeandKeating governments,and has at times been even lower under theHowardgovernment.Cuts have not been limited to aid levels either; in mid-1996, the Howard government slashed the agency's running costs budget by 24% amidst a round of cost-cutting measures.

In 2005John Howardcommitted Australia to double Australian aid to about $4 billion a year by 2010. At the time of the 2007–08 budget, the Government announced total aid of $3.2 billion and an expectation "to continue increasing development assistance, to $3.5 billion in 2008-09, $3.8 billion in 2009–10 and $4.3 billion in 2010–11".

The 2005–06 Annual Report recorded 18 staff in the senior executive service out of a total of 516 public servant staff. 68 AusAID public servants were serving long-term postings outside Australia. These figures do not include locally employed staff outside Australia.

Total Australian ODA in 2005–06 wasA$2,605 million,not all of it administered by AusAID. AusAID administered $1,587 million of expenses in 2005–06 and also had departmental expenses (i.e. under its direct control) of A$78 million.

Over most of AusAID's existence, tenders providing services associated with aid programs were generally limited to firms from Australia or New Zealand, or firms doing substantial business in those countries; only in 2005 did the agency liberalise its guidelines to allow firms from the recipient country to apply for some tenders. The agency was considerably more liberal with construction contracts, allowing bidding from any company worldwide, though this has the effect of shutting out many potential bidders from recipient countries.

In 2002, as part of an international initiative, AusAID untied aid toLeast Developed Countries.Since the White Paper in 2006, all AusAID procurement was untied (i.e. open to international firms) except for the Australia Indonesia Partnership for Reconstruction and Development (AIPRD).

On 18 December 2008, theWilliam J. Clinton Foundationreleased a list of all contributors. It included AusAID, which gave between US$10–25 million.

In July 2010, under the Labor government, AusAID became an executive agency, separate from theDepartment of Foreign Affairs and Trade(DFAT).

In December 2014 the Abbott government announced significant cuts to Australia's foreign aid program. TreasurerJoe Hockeysaid that savings of $3.7 billion in the foreign aid program over the next four years would offset new commitments in defence and national security. These cuts, reflected in the 2015-16 Budget, meant that Australia's aid budget had fallen to $4 billion, down from a peak of $5.6 billion in 2012–13.

According to calculations by the Development Policy Centre atANU,the Abbott-Turnbull-Morrison government's budget cuts marked both the largest ever multi-year aid cuts (33%) and largest ever single year cut (20% and $1 billion in 2015–16). The cuts would see Australian aid fall to 0.22% ofGross National Incomein 2017–18 and then to 0.21% in 2019–20, the lowest level in Australia's history.

The 2015–16 Budget outlined the cuts. With the exception of Cambodia, Nepal andTimor-Leste,aid to countries in Asia was cut by 40%. The Pacific andPapua New Guinea(PNG) were only slightly cut, whileSub-Saharan Africawas slashed by 70%, and aid to theMiddle Eastwas cut by 43%. PNG replaced Indonesia as the largest recipient of Australian aid, receiving $477.4 million in 2015–16.

According to research conductedby the Development Policy Centre at ANU, Australia's declining aid expenditure puts it at odds with the aid budget trajectories that many otherOECDcountries are following. In 2013, the Conservative government in the UK became the firstG7donor to reach the OECD's 0.7% of GNI target, increasing its ODA by 27.8% on 2012 levels.

In May 2016 the government handed down the 2016/17 federal budget which confirmed the final round of Australian aid cuts, $224 million or 7.4% of the Australian aid program. This was the sixth-largest cut in any one year of the aid program's history. Increases to the aid program over the forward estimates (the next four years) were pegged to the rate of inflation.

Fairfax Media's Matt Wade reported that Australia's aid program, while only about 1% of budget expenditure, has made up around 25% of all budget cuts announced by the government for the period 2013–14 to 2018–19. TheLowy Institute's Jonathan Pryke reporte that these cuts have seen Australia tumble in international rankings and left Australia at an all-time low when it comes to its aid generosity as measured by aid as a proportion ofGross National Income.

According to theOECD,2020 official development assistance from Australia decreased by 10.6% to US$2.6 billion.

Projects

Girls dancingDabkeh(Palestinian National Folkloric Dance) during the celebrations of the newly built WASH facilities byUNICEFand funded by AusAid,Al Shioukhelementary girls' school,Hebron,2011.

It operated programs in five separate regions:Papua New Guinea,South Asia(Bangladesh,Bhutan,India,theMaldives,Nepal,PakistanandSri Lanka),East Asia(Burma,Cambodia,China,East Timor,Indonesia,Laos,Mongolia,thePhilippines,ThailandandVietnam), thePacific(theCook Islands,Fiji,Kiribati,Micronesia,Nauru,Niue,Samoa,theSolomon Islands,Tokelau,Tonga,TuvaluandVanuatu) and theMiddle East(AfghanistanandIraq).

AusAID also ran the Australian Youth Ambassadors for Development program, a volunteer program allowing Australians aged 18–30 to volunteer for up to a year in countries throughout Asia and the Pacific. Australian Aid partners with several Australian charities for its work, such asLeprosy Mission Australia,delivering awareness, prevention, treatment and rehabilitation projects in Timor-Leste, Indonesia and Nepal.

Past projects

Past projects included bridging theMekong RiverbetweenThailandandLaoswith theThai–Lao Friendship Bridge,and reintroducing thePrzewalski's Horse(aMongoliannational symbol which had become extinct in the wild) to the nation.

See also

• ASEAN Australia Development Cooperation Program
• Australian Civilian Corps
• Developmental Leadership Program
• Philippines–Australia Community Assistance Program

Further reading

• "Mixed reviews for DFAT-AusAID merger five years on".The Mandarin.17 March 2019.
• Wood, Terence; Muller, Sachini; Howes, Stephen (20 February 2019)."Australian aid five years on: the 2018 Australian Aid Stakeholder Survey".Devpolicy Blog from the Development Policy Centre.

External links

• Official website

Historical

• "Home".AusAID.Archived fromthe originalon 6 May 1997.
• "Home".AusAID.Archived fromthe originalon 1 May 2009.
• "Home".AusAID.Archived fromthe originalon 5 July 2011.
• "Australian Agency for International Development (AusAID)".Parliament of Australia.14 August 2013.(Links to documents containing answers to questions on notice.)