Our thread starter must be shaking the head now.
Forgive them they know not what they say.
Australia is far from broke.
Aid is many things, still giggling at the idea we are broke.
John Howard founded schools and education in Indonesia.
To educate kids keeping them away from terrorists, Abbott and a third of posters here wanted it stopped!
So aid saves lives, it educates, it grows country's so boats may not need to leave that shore.
Aid is a basic a AUSTRALIAN MATE SHIP, it kept our prisoners of the Japanese alive, we share.
Do not worry Labor gives what it can every time, but if one year is short at least we give.
And I ask the let them feed them selves mob what will you do if the boats come with guns?

Necastle SWDane,
I just occured to me. The amount we are spending on saving, transporting, processing, housing and settling the illegal boat arrivals should be classified as foreign aid. After all they are foreigners.

Take all that into account and our expenditure on foreign aid will be well up on the previous government. No need for you to be concerned, just look at next budget.

Banjo, yes I almost posted the same sort of thing this morning. The huge expenditure on asylum seekers could well be considered international aid.

I wonder what portion of our GDP has been spent on aid in the last twelve months if this is factored in?

Onshore asylum seeking should be shut down. Then this level of expenditure should be diverted to our formal international aid programs, especially targeted at the causal factors of refugeeism and the development of sustainable societies….and the accommodation of an increased number of refugees brought to Australia within our formal immigration program.

Newcastle SWdane.
please forgive us, see like it or not most here and in the country, remember we grow as we age less interested in our youthful thoughts.
Dislike and do not want any boat people arriving here.
Ludwig and I question can our country continue to grow unchecked forever.
How about sustainability.
While share holders/land developers others interested in by product of growth, want the Rich's it brings and who cares about the future.
We know how much it costs far too much, we suspect it need not be so.
In my view we gather on different sides of the river to throw stones, some saying Kevin Rudd got it wrong, yes he did, but lets pretend Howard got it right always.
I happen to think Tiny Target Tony uses the issue, to further his race to become the worst Prime Minister this country ever had.
A mountain he must work hared to climb over Gillard for, he can do it,he already holds worst opposition ever by miles.
Yes aid can, in some minds be told to walk the plank, after all we do not stand in front of children dieing mums too dads killing them selves only numbers after all.

Belly,
You said "Dislike and do not want any boat people arriving here.
Ludwig and I question can our country continue to grow unchecked forever.
How about sustainability"

I too share that view, but am a little more blunt, and accurate, in describing the 'illegals' who I see as deceitful shonks who take advantage of our generosity. I am quite happy to see the arrival of genuine refugees but am now a bit wary as some are not showing good signs of integrating. Perhaps the social change is too great for some.

You also said "In my view we gather on different sides of the river to throw stones, some saying Kevin Rudd got it wrong, yes he did, but lets pretend Howard got it right always".

Howard got it right eventually and I was critical of the time it took them. They took years to come up with the right policies that stopped the illegals from coming and probably then only by accident. May take tougher measures now to acheive the same.

World population is the big stumbling block in sustainability and I think we should look to Iran in how to reduce birth rates and encourage that in our foreign aid.

<< World population is the big stumbling block in sustainability and I think we should look to Iran in how to reduce birth rates and encourage that in our foreign aid. >>

Absolutely Banjo.

In fact, this should be the CORE issue within our aid programs, as a fundamental part of the achievement of sustainable societies.

Maximised effort is needed to address family planning, availability of contraception, education for women and girls and other measures that will slow population growth and achieve stable populations or populations that are gently reducing in size.

It is very much the nature of aid as well as the size of the aid budget that matters. In fact, it is all-important. So much so that I’d more than happy if our aid budget wasn’t increased at all, just as long as it was reoriented towards achieving sustainability.

I believe that anything to do with the reduction of population growth is actually completely omitted from our current aid programs! In fact, sustainability is not a consideration at all.

Even worse; the manner in which our aid money is spent actually promulgates continuous growth and the world’s antisustainable momentum.