The latest OECD foreign aid statistics are out, and in addition to showing that the G8 have reneged on their promises and betrayed the world's poor, they also paint a rather unflattering picture of our own contribution. New Zealanders like to think of themselves as generous, but in reality we are one of the least generous in the OECD, giving a mere 0.27% of gross national income. This is below the OECD average of 0.46%, well below the government's international commitment under the Millenium Development Goals to increase aid to 0.7% of GNI by 2010, and below even their target of increasing aid to 0.35% by 2010.
Peter Dunne calls this "pathetic", and like Bob Geldof, he is entirely right. We can, and should, do better.
Yep, it is pathetic and we shouldn't be as self-satisfied as we all seem to be. We'd rather spend our money on really important things, like new rugby stadia and rich boys' yachting competitions in Spain.
ReplyDeleteSo what is the good Mr Dunne's position on this, exactly? Other than the "any time is a good time to put the boot into Labour" one, that is. I have not seen him or his party prominently promoting their 0.5% of GDP policy. Maybe I missed that?
ReplyDeleteHmm, from their web pages, The Greens are on 0.7%, National were last seen on 0.24% and thinking about increasing it, NZ First want to review it, the Maori Party and the Progressive party don't have policies, and ACT don't have a target at all.
This is an interesting overview of the last election: http://www.cid.org.nz/advocacy/party-policies.html