Last week, Australia’s conservative government under Prime Minister Tony Abbott unveiled its 2014-15 federal budget. As widely expected by aid experts and advocates, the Abbott government’s first budget only set in motion the latest round of caps and cuts to Australian foreign aid spending since the change of power in Canberra last September — bringing total official development assistance reductions to 7.6 billion Australian dollars ($7.2 billion) over five years.
At the same time, the Abbott government’s 2014-15 foreign aid budget jettisoned Australia’s pledge to increase ODA to 0.5 percent of gross national income, contrary to its pre-election commitment. The budget also postponed the Abbott government’s pre-election promise to grow the Australian aid budget at the rate of inflation to 2016.
Australian aid groups were understandably dismayed by the Abbott government’s 2014-15 budget, in part because the Abbott government has imposed some of the deepest cuts on its poorest development partners, including East Timor and sub-Saharan Africa. The budget allocates just over AU$5 billion for Australian foreign aid in 2014-15, flat when compared with 2013-14 levels, which were substantially reduced by the Abbott government in January. The Australian fiscal year begins July 1.