This Month
Elon Musk’s legacy is disease, starvation and death
The billionaire’s sojourn in government has revealed severe flaws in his character – a blithe, dehumanising cruelty and a deadly incuriosity.
May
Bill Gates is giving away $310b. Can his plans survive the Trump era?
The billionaire’s strategy to turbocharge his global health drive could be undermined by political reality, as the US and other Western governments drastically cut foreign aid.
Indonesia is Australia’s ‘most important relationship’. Is the feeling mutual?
Anthony Albanese was given the royal treatment on his visit to Jakarta this week, but Australia’s closest neighbour is also opening up its friendship circle.
What the PM’s Indonesian entourage says about his second term priorities
Anthony Albanese is again making Indonesia his first official visit of the parliamentary term, but the absence of his defence minister is notable.
March
Trump killed America’s aid program. It’s catching on
Donald Trump and Elon Musk have decimated USAID and the anti-aid contagion is spreading; developed country programs are tipped to fall 50 per cent by 2027.
February
Trump’s assault on aid costs lives and ‘opens the door to China’
The US president’s attack on foreign aid has already led to deaths and is an invitation to Beijing to win hearts and minds in the Pacific and across our region.
January
How Australia can play a crucial role in Gaza’s future
Our nation has a unique opportunity to aid the peace process in the Middle East. But it requires a strategic pivot in its approach to aid funding.
June 2024
Why Australia needs to stop being PNG’s payday lender
It might seem a good, neighbourly thing to do. But loans can be damaging as poorly tied aid. The alternative is subsidising direct Australian business investment.
May 2024
No coal, but $31m energy and other aid package for Ukraine
Foreign Minister Penny Wong says giving Ukraine flexibility about how to spend an energy aid package is better than sending a shipload of coal.
April 2024
Albanese ‘outraged’ after aid worker’s death as condemnation grows
Israel’s top military commander has apologised for the death of Zomi Frankcom and six colleagues killed in a botched Israeli airstrike in Gaza.
March 2024
What China gets right in PNG and Australia gets wrong
This former leader of PNG’s state energy supplier says we should take a leaf from the China playbook by using a “tied aid” model.
Australia ends freeze on $6m for Palestinian aid agency UNRWA
Australia joins Canada, Sweden and the European Union in restoring funding for the organisation after at least 12 countries froze payments in January.
Dropping aid from planes is expensive and inefficient. Why do it?
Aid professionals say dropping aid from planes is an expensive, inefficient way to deliver much-need supplies, but the US, Jordan, Egypt, and France are forging ahead.
January 2024
Details emerge on UN workers accused of aiding Hamas raid
One is accused of kidnapping a woman. Another is said to have handed out ammunition. A third was described as taking part in a massacre at a kibbutz.
June 2023
Aussie Ukrainians scramble to marshal support after dam disaster
Charities are marshalling donations and deploying funds to help the tens of thousands of Ukrainians displaced by the destruction of the dam on the Dnipro River.
November 2022
Andrew Forrest’s family office coinvests with DFAT on Asian investment
Tattarang and the Scalzo family’s private office have co-invested with the government’s Emerging Markets Impact Investment Fund to back female entrepreneurs in Asia.
October 2022
The big winners from the $1.4b foreign aid boost
Countries in Asia and the Middle East will get more funding as Australia vies for a UN seat, but the bulk of the budget goes to the Pacific to counter China’s influence.
September 2022
Aid spending shake-up would help Asia most: experts
A secret proposal to underwrite private investment for development assistance would not put taxpayers’ money at risk.
Use private investment to fight China’s power in Pacific: secret report
A study urged the Morrison government to overhaul Australia’s foreign aid program, including taking direct equity stakes in infrastructure projects.
May 2022
Ukraine could be start of third world war: Soros
George Soros says Russia’s invasion could spiral into a conflict that might lead to an end of Western civilisation.