By Stephen Dziedzic
Australia's federal government is hopeful the spending will help its regional partners become more economically resilient, develop critical infrastructure, and provide for their own security. Photo: New Zealand Herald/Jason Oxenham
Australia's federal government will unveil a further boost to foreign aid to the Pacific in next week's budget, promising to lift development spending by a total of almost $1.4 billion (NZ$1.55bn) over the next four years.
Labor pledged ahead of the election that, if it won power, it would ratchet up development assistance to South East Asia by $475 million (NZ$526m) in coming years, while lifting spending in the Pacific by $525m (NZ$581m) over the same period.
It is now vowing to plough an additional $375m (NZ$415m) into the Pacific, bringing the total aid boost for the region to around $900m (NZ$996m).
Foreign Minister Penny Wong said the budget commitments would be a "major step toward the goal of making Australia stronger and more influential in the world".
"Our assistance will help our regional partners become more economically resilient, develop critical infrastructure and provide their own security so they have less need to call on others," she said.
"Without these investments, others will continue to fill the vacuum and Australia will continue to lose ground as we did under the Liberals and Nationals."
The Coalition slashed foreign aid in 2014 but lifted development spending when the Covid-19 pandemic hit the region in 2020, largely through "targeted and temporary" boosts to the aid budget designed to help the Pacific to weather the crisis.
Aid groups gave the former government credit for its response to the pandemic in the region, including the rollout of Covid-19 vaccines in several Pacific countries.
However, the sector also argued successive budget cuts to crucial aid programmes over almost a decade were morally indefensible, and eroded Australia's diplomatic influence.
The chief executive of the Australian Council for International Development, Marc Purcell, told the ABC the government's promises were a "strong step" towards "revitalising the international development programme that is a core component of our international engagement and foreign policy settings".
"We really welcome these additional commitments from the government, given the significant needs in our region and beyond. Human development went backwards due to the pandemic and Australia should be providing more support," Purcell said.
"In challenging economic and geostrategic times, an increase to ODA (official development assistance) is critical. The needs of our regional partners are clear: investment in health systems strengthening, climate change adaptation, gender equality, economic livelihoods and social protections."
The Australian government has not yet spelled out how the additional money will be spent, and Purcell said development bodies "looked forward to seeing details of the additional funding on Budget night".
Where will the money go?
In addition to the boost to aid spending, the government is promising to spend more money on a host of other Pacific initiatives.
Around $46m (NZ$51m) will be spent on funding Australian Federal Police operations in Solomon Islands, where they are helping to maintain security in the wake of violent riots late last year.
An additional $30m (NZ$33m) will be spent boosting the region's aerial surveillance, while almost $19m (NZ$21m) will be spent to establish a network of Australian Border Force officers across the Pacific.
The ABC (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) will also get $32m (NZ$35m) to expand ABC content and transmission across the region as the government becomes increasingly anxious about threats to media freedom across the Pacific.
And the Australian Infrastructure Financing Facility for the Pacific - set up by the former government to provide infrastructure loans and grants to Pacific Island nations - will also get another $500m (NZ$553m) over the next decade.
Minister for International Development Pat Conroy said the government was bringing "new energy and resources" to the Pacific, which would help "help build a stronger and more united Pacific family, and a more secure region".
- ABC