Australian Aid: Promoting Growth and Stability sets out a comprehensive plan for Australia's overseas aid program for the next ten years. It represents a distinctly Australian view on development, informed by the best of international knowledge and our own experience from fifty years of providing aid. It is also underpinned by our values and spirit as a nation. I applaud the international focus on the challenge of global poverty and welcome the announced increases in aid budgets worldwide. However we need to be mindful that money alone will not achieve the Millennium Development Goals. Aid has to be spent effectively and in support of improved policies and actions by developing, as well as developed, countries if we are to rid the world of poverty.
Australians can be justly proud of their aid program. From disaster relief efforts in Aceh and Pakistan, to re-establishing law and order in Solomon Islands, to striving to stop women from dying in childbirth in Papua New Guinea, we have earned an international reputation for responsiveness, pragmatism and flexibility.
Yet there is no room for complacency. As we work towards the goal of doubling the size of our aid program by 2010 we will be ambitious and creative to ensure that every aid dollar is spent effectively.
We will focus our aid on the fundamental pillars for poverty reduction and development - economic growth, sound governance and stability. At its core, development is about people. Australia will make a major investment in the people of the Asia-Pacific, particularly its women and children.
Delivering Australia's aid program will be built on partnerships. We will use our aid to reach out to the region and mobilise new partnerships that promote closer ties between Australia and our neighbours.
I am committed to ensuring that Australian taxpayers know whether their aid program is working. The White Paper outlines strategies on how we will go about this, including through the publication of an Annual Review of Development Effectiveness.
I would like to thank those who contributed to the development of the White Paper, through participation in public meetings, seminars, consultations or written submissions. I also acknowledge Professor Ron Duncan and his Core Group team for developing a thoughtful set of recommendations which have provided robust building blocks for the White Paper.
Australian Aid: Promoting Growth and Stability outlines an integrated and coordinated Australian response to the complex development challenges of our region. By doing so, we will maximise our contribution to the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals. And at same time, we will advance our neighbours' and our own national interest by promoting a secure and prosperous region.
Alexander Downer
MINISTER FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS
Back to top