Thanks Deb - good article. Does anyone have up to date figures on the proportion of Australia's aid budget that returns to Australia as either fees to Australian consultants or purchase cost for Australian goods? At one time there was a formal policy stipulating that a set percentage of the aid budget had to return to Australia via these channels - not sure if that is still in place. Perhaps the portion of our aid program that is really about export industry development should be taken out of the aid portfolio and housed in the trade portfolio? That would be an ethically more transparent way of organising things.

Great article, the worst offenders are of course the red/green/getup/labour coalition. They love the "outsourcing" of government services to their loony, left, friends & family more, than the conservatives.

Foreign Aid is a fantastic way to waste more taxpayers money on providing "jobs for the girls". Allegedly educated, middle class, "ruling elites" & Social Talkers. Who have an amazing capacity for fooling themselves into thinking they will ever make a difference. How to give yourself a warm inner glow at taxpayers expense 101?

The best thing we could ever do for the third world would be to shut down the "Foreign Aid Industry" ASAP.

There is only one possible way that foreign aid could ever work. That is to send in military catering corps units to run "soup kitchens" in famine zones, with excess produce from Aussie farmers. Together with "mash" hospitals to provide health care.

The only other option is to bring some of their young people here "temporarily" for "scholarship" educations. Then they could return to their own country to educate their own people.

Re “The only other option is to bring some of their young people here "temporarily" for "scholarship" educations. THEN THEY COULD RETURN TO THEIR OWN COUNTRY to educate their own people.”

ay, there's the rub!

How ’ya gonna keep ’em, down on the farm,After they’ve seen Pa-ree -– or Mel-born or Sid-nee for that matta?

And the --$64,000 dollar question--how ya gonna give our pollies the backbone to send ‘em back, afta all dem bleedin hearts start whining ‘let ‘em stay’.

I always hear the argument that if we don't pay our top academics more then they'll leave our shores to go overseas. I think it would save us a helluva lot of money if we did offer them more thus getting them out & help others build up their country. That way, they won't have any excuse whatsoever to come & stay here.
You'd be surprised at efficiency this would create in Australia not having the interference of either of them.

Much as there is some truths and factoids in this article it still remains a generalized overly simplistic spray. And frankly I wonder why Graham published it.

I too spent several years in PNG and I think the author misses more salient facts that she covers.

In the past aid has been squandered through local distribution.
Secondly the author glosses over ingrained cultural onetok,tribal, clan, racial, language structures mind sets (barriers)of the vast number of the people.
Voting is often achieved by inducements(bribery in our terms but to many tribal people this is their age old culture.)
Many of the representatives are voted for, with the expectation of "cargo" personal, tribal, clan etc advantages.
It is this cultural weakness is exploited by the unscrupulous timber companies.

Over laid on to this is the limited pool of persons of ability/competence, then there's the personal power grabbing mentality of all politicians.

The author makes sound point about consultants but one can fairly asked given the above what is the solution. What it isn't is as simplistic as suggested by either the author or the politically motivated posters.
Likewise I have little time for many of these religious groups 'fly and builds'. A common target here are religious schools or churches.

I think the author would be taken more seriously if this was rewritten to take into account both sides and some recognition of the cultural mis match.

AID?

World Vision built HEAPS of houses in Acheh which lie uninhabited because they did not do their homework.

Your aid dollar is not always well spent.

CARE had to fund a fleet of trucks which, at the end of the aid program became the personal property of the president of an "un-named" african country.

Our "Aid"? Consultants ? oh come come out of the tree of naivity.

NETWORKS.. you know.. Polly/Party/"Consultant".... birds of a feather.

When elections change parties they only change the Consultant Club of flesh eating virus from one side of politics to the other.

If we want transparency..the parties would only ever give it kicking and screaming..howling and with gnashing of teeth.

Often it boils down to who was your room-mate at boarding school..as to who get's a consultant or other poly networking job.