Australia’s aid budget for the 2021-22 financial year, released on May 11, was delivered with limited detail on how its $4.3 billion Australian dollars ($3.4 billion) will be directed. Just over AU$300 million in additional funding is being provided to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic outside of a fixed AU$4 billion aid budget. This is part of an AU$1 billion support package that will end in 2024.
This budget provides limited room to move financially. Increasing humanitarian need in the Indo-Pacific or increasing costs to procure and deliver equipment may require cuts to programs deemed less essential.
It is also reliant on the mainstreaming of focus areas such as gender, disability, and climate to deliver on objectives rather than direct programs. And this budget is also reliant on more than the aid program to deliver assistance.