(From World Vision Facebook 5.9.13)
Though foreign aid is not specifically one of my election policies of interest, this just had to be shared.
http://www.worldvision.com.au/resources/media/13-09-05/Coalition_aid_cuts_leave_Australians_broken-hearted_World_Vision.aspx
$4.5 million cut from the budget to fund inhumane refugee treatment, exorbitant parental leave scheme and a climate change policy that doesn't work.
If you have a roof over your head, clothes on your back, food on your table and a bed to sleep in, you are richer than 75% of the world's population. Please vote for the poor and not for your back pocket!
I think foreign aid should be one of the many instruments used to reduce refugees seeking asylum in Australia and elsewhere.
(and I confess the thing that makes me most angry is that this is announced less than 48 hours before the election.)
Why vote to get a government to take money of other people and then spend it on aid? Why not just give your own money and maybe talk to those other people whose money you think ought to be spent on aid? A cheerful giver is better than one who is only giving because the police would otherwise put them into jail.
ReplyDeleteBecause the issues of inequality in the world are bigger than just individuals giving money. Going over to "talk to the other people" costs money. Providing support for institutional change in another country takes money.
ReplyDeleteBy "other people" I meant "other voters". My point was that it is better to try to convince people to give than to vote for a party that promises to take their money and give it away. If they are a big fan of large bureaucratic charity organisations (ie pseudo government) they can give to the Gates Foundation. If they like a smaller approach they can pick one of those. So my point was "can't the government just be smaller?".
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