Hasbeen has spoken - therefore it must be so!

"The Director of one church aid group, Uniting World, (Dr Kerry Enright), has published estimates that as a result of the Government's cuts 450,000 lives will be lost down the years and millions of children will lose the opportunity to go to school."

And this figure is arrived at... how? As other commenters have pointed out, the link between rich countries handing out large sums of foreign aid and poor people getting richer is tenuous in the extreme. Even the corporate sponsors of sporting teams require some sort of evidence that they are getting value for their money; what evidence can you supply that restoring foreign aid is going to save 450,000 human beings? Can you name one?

What's really going on is bribery, of course: keep your nationals in Australia quiet, vet potential immigrants before you send them over, don't put too many Australian tourists in prison, vote our way at the UN, and the baksheesh will keep coming into the pockets of our corrupt elite. If Abbott has the moral courage to step out of the system, good luck to him.

I wouldn't waste my time Noel or hold my breath! The man has very strong and complex views and isn't for turning? Even so, he is a good deal more "Christian", than many might think?
Rhrosty.

Instead of cutting foreign aid they should reduce funding for institutions that produce the likes of the Professor & Marylin Shepherd at al.
They're just stirring for the sake of stirring. Let the new Government settle in & sort out Labor's legacy first.

It is typical of the posts on this forum that the only people who make any sense are the ones that don't hide behind stupid nicknames! So far in this particular thread that is precisely one.

Colin Pain,
Must feel great to be able to live up to your name. Tell us what's so wrong with not wasting our tax dollar on pointless academics ? I'd much rather see some money poured into manufacturing of foreign aid equipment.