Government Reviews Foreign Policy

The Australian Government is reviewing foreign policy and looking to establish accountability for aid outcomes from aid recipient nations if they are to continue to benefit from Australian donations, with a particular focus on Asia Pacific aid to countries such as Papua New Guinea and Fiji.

Australia is the largest bilateral aid donor to Papua New Guinea, offering about US$200 million a year in assistance according to Wikipedia, which is now concentrated on project development in civil organisations, health, education and agriculture, rather than budgetary support which was provided some years ago. It has been noted by the Australian Government that the PNG administration is a long way from meeting most of its development targets and in fact going backwards on many, such as HIV prevention measures.

In Fiji, the objective is to assist the return to democracy with the country united. It is no use putting pressure on Fiji to return to a democratic nation without that unity, but providing aid to a country under military rule is certainly not considered by Australia a proper long term viability.