U.S. President Donald Trump’s inauguration speech sounded uncannily familiar to many in Australia’s international NGO community. The United States, he said, had “spent trillions of dollars overseas while America's infrastructure has fallen into disrepair and decay.”
Just a few years ago, Prime Minister Tony Abbott’s government sent similar messages — and followed through with cuts to the aid program totalling $11 billion Australian dollars ($8.3 billion). “We can't continue to fund a massive increase in foreign aid at the expense of investment in the Australian economy,” former Treasurer Joe Hockey told media in 2013.
Trump’s administration is already promising to curb some government spending and following his inauguration, the U.S. Agency for International Development should be preparing for the worst. The aid agency may face a similar fate as Australia’s aid program, with changes to programs, purpose and budget.
About the author
Lisa Cornishlisa_cornish
Lisa Cornish is a former Devex Senior Reporter based in Canberra, where she focuses on the Australian aid community. Lisa has worked with News Corp Australia as a data journalist and has been published throughout Australia in the Daily Telegraph in Melbourne, Herald Sun in Melbourne, Courier-Mail in Brisbane, and online through news.com.au. Lisa additionally consults with Australian government providing data analytics, reporting and visualization services.
