Lucy Zelic opinion: Foreign aid follies while Australians go hungry

Our neighbours in the Pacific receive record amounts in “support for climate action” while millions of Australians experience food insecurity, writes Lucy Zelic

It’s been utterly fascinating, if not wildly amusing at times, to watch the levels of hysteria attached to every move Donald J. Trump makes.

It’s been dubbed “Trump Derangement Syndrome” for a reason because it’s usually accompanied by seismic screeching and verbal dysentery.

The reactions to the news that House Republicans recently approved a package to recoup over $9 billion in foreign aid and public broadcasting funding has elicited such predictability from the usual suspects.

The bleeding hearts have crawled out of their solar-powered yurts to remind us all that struggling US veterans should be forced to fund trans healthcare clinics in India.

In the face of all the squawking, the Trump administration remains undeterred in their quest to put an end to decades of wasteful government spending, which has contributed to the country’s hefty $36 trillion national debt.

Food being delivered from We Are Community at the reopening of the major community food bank, Community Cafe, in Sadlier, NSW. Picture: NewsWire/ Monique Harmer

Somewhere in the distance, I can hear the Beach Boys hit “Wouldn’t It Be Nice” playing as I wonder forlornly what it must be like to have the leader of a nation put the needs of their own people first.

Because the myth regarding foreign aid is now on show for all to see.

Dr Dambisa Moyo’s work has raised serious questions about foreign aid.

Dambisa Moyo is Zambian-born economist and author who wrote the book ‘Dead Aid: Why aid is not working and how there is a better way for Africa.’

In a lecture last year, she asked a damning question.

“In 1970, about 10 per cent of Africans were living on less than one dollar a day. Today, over 70% of Africans live on less than a dollar a day and over the past 50 years over $1 trillion of aid has gone to Africa: the question is what’s going on here?”

It’s a question several other global leaders have begun to raise with analysis revealing that the United Kingdom, Germany and Canada have also cut their foreign aid budgets this year with reductions set to steepen.

So where does the Albanese government stand on this issue?

Senator the Hon Penny Wong, Minister for Foreign Affairs, arrived at the 10th Pacific Islands Leaders Meeting (PALM10) in Tokyo, Japan, on the morning of 18 July 2024.

Deeply committed to the $5.1 billion that has been allocated this financial year to the Official Development Assistance (ODA) budget — an increase of $135.8 million from 2024-25.

Our partners in the Pacific receive a record $2.157 billion with “support for climate action”.

How splendid, the climate prophets in Canberra, who subscribe to the arrogant belief that we can control the weather, have been evangelising the wonders of wind turbines to our friends abroad. Other commitments include building economic resilience and ending domestic violence against all women and girls in the Pacific regions, where the rates are some of the highest in the world.

While these are noble ambitions is it perhaps time for them to stand on their own two feet and scrutinise the capabilities of their own governments?

Please spare me the “geopolitical” arguments too because it’s quite clear that funding climate change, and allocating $3.5 million dollars to LGBTQIA+ organisations to “catalyse change in their communities” in other countries has bugger-all to do with keeping China at bay.

It will also be of little importance to our pensioners struggling to pay their medical bills with “just their Medicare card” and the 3.7 million households across country experiencing food insecurity, that we send $50 million to countries like Afghanistan – a country under Taliban rule, committing shocking acts of abuse against women, where 41 of our soldiers were killed during the war.

Some Australians doing it tough have taken to sleeping in parks.

In NSW alone, electricity prices have soared by at least 9%, the rate of homelessness has reached crisis levels, Sydney’s housing market is the second-most expensive in the world and our nurses are still fighting for a pay rise.

Thank goodness though, that corrupt countries like Pakistan and Mongolia, which rate poorly on Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index, are both receiving 11.5 and $10.6 million of our hard-earned money respectively. When I raised these concerns with foreign affairs minister Penny Wong’s office, a spokesperson said: “The Australian Government has zero tolerance for corruption.”

“Australia’s development budget is crucial to the stability and the security of our region,” adding, “a decade of cuts from the Liberals and Nationals left a vacuum for others to fill, leaving Australians less safe.”

Yes, because nothing screams “I feel safe” like Chinese spies and naval warships hovering along your coastline. The reality is, Australians deserve more fiscal frugality from our governments.

Remember those trans healthcare clinics that I referenced earlier? After Trump announced an end to their USAID funding, three clinics closed in January this year.

In early May, another clinic, under a new name, officially opened its doors after receiving the financial backing of some of India’s multinational corporations.

Go figure.