The Australian government has overhauled its foreign aid policy for the first time in almost a decade, pledging to develop aid programs in consultation with country, development, and civil society partners.
The previous international development policy, released in 2014 during Prime Minister Tony Abbott’s administration, brought gender into aid and fostered innovation in development delivery and financing. Many of these initiatives were cut and international development transparency downgraded after then-Foreign Minister Julie Bishop resigned.
The new policy has reinstated and expanded many of these ideas, with some media observers highlighting that the new policy is a means of competing against Chinese development and Chinese presence in the Indo-Pacific region.