Elevate Development to the Heart of Australia’s International Engagement

In the face of climate change, increasing inequality and growing global instability, the Australian Government should elevate development cooperation to the core of Australia’s policy and statecraft.

To build a development program ‘fit for our times’ the Australian Government must increase development and humanitarian investment, resourcing and expertise to a level that is commensurate with the challenges facing our region and the world.

Principled and effective development that places people at the centre of program design can wind back the drivers of inequality and poverty by creating structural change. It is a critical but underutilised tool for increasing stability and prosperity, enhancing resilience to external shocks, and building strong and enduring people-to-people and government relationships within Australia’s region and globally.Foreign aid is not a zero-sum game.

Ten of the 15 largest export markets for Australian trade were once recipients of Australian foreign aid. It is in Australia’s interest to actively contribute to the safety and prosperity of the world through increasing ODA to communities and countries where development progress lags far behind. The Asia-Pacific region, is projected to achieve just one-third of the necessary progress on the SDGs by 2030. In particular, for Small Island Development states (SIDs), the effects of Covid-19 have resulted in just 5.9 per cent progress on the SDGs since 2015. Progress by least-developed countries stands slightly higher at 11.5 per cent.

Despite recent investment, the long-term trajectory of Australia’s development program is forecast to flatline in real dollar terms at a time when Australia’s leadership, engagement and partnership is a critically needed and strategically astute asset in an increasingly unstable and unpredictable world.

Despite its place as the 13th largest economy in the world, Australia continues to languish at the bottom of the OECD Development Assistance Committee ODA/GNI donor rankings. If Australia is to be considered a credible player in the international arena it must contribute our fair share to Our Common Agenda and other global goals and commitments.

Central to this is the fundamental purpose of Australia’s development program: to effectively and meaningfully improve the lives of the people and communities we partner with. Australia’s development program must prioritise addressing root causes of conflict and state fragility and strengthen human security through investments in education, health, livelihoods, water, and sanitation.

To be effective, Australia’s development program must reach the most marginalised through ensuring their rights are respected, protected and fulfilled. Too often systemic discrimination and entrenched negative social norms exclude individuals, children and minority groups from development progress.

With decades of expertise guiding their work, Australian development and humanitarian organisations stand ready to assist the government in delivering on the objectives set out in the International Development Policy and rebuilding a development program that is adequately resourced and funded to meet the needs that shape our current world.

Read more about ACFID’s Policy and Advocacy work to elevate development to the heard of Australia’s international engagement in our Advocacy Agenda. 

ACFID also supports the Asia Pacific Development, Diplomacy and Defence dialogue.