Coalition defends foreign aid reductions
A Coalition government will make decisions about looking after “the world’s poor” once it has achieved a sustainable surplus, Opposition finance spokesman Andrew Robb says.
The Coalition has announced it will reduce foreign aid spending by $4.5 billion if it wins the election.
Robb says it is not a cut to foreign aid but a reduction in future spending growth.
“It’s money that’s programmed to be increased above the current levels of foreign aid which we will continue with, with an inflation factor,” he told ABC Radio in Melbourne.
“We will defer the increase in the future.
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“The bottom line is we are currently borrowing from overseas countries, paying interest on that money and now giving it back.
“We’re in debt. We’re in deficit. It’s stupid.
“The best thing to do is spend that $4.5 billion on economic infrastructure so that we can then afford a sustainable surplus and then we can make decisions about looking after the world’s poor with a sustainable economic position.”
Labor was quick to criticise the Coalition’s policy.
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Foreign Minister Bob Carr said to cut back foreign aid was to diminish Australia’s security.
Workplace Relations Minister Bill Shorten said if the Coalition wanted to engage in an “Olympic record stupid competition” it should look at its Indonesian fishing boats buy-back policy.
“It is stupid to offer to buy second hand Indonesian fishing boats like you’re proposing,” Shorten told Mr Robb on ABC radio.
“That is a Liberal idea and it is a stupid idea.”
Shorten said there was no question Labor’s regional resettlement program with Papua New Guinea was starting to have an impact.
Robb said the PNG policy was “collapsing”, but the Coalition would not cancel the agreement.
“We’re not going to rely on that as our primary strategy,” Robb said.
