Heavens above! The penny has dropped. Of course foreign aid has benefits for the donor. You would have to be pretty naive to thing otherwise. As I said, China is certainly benefiting from aid to dirt poor countries. We should be outbidding them, and obtaining ports for our navy to keep and eye out for the sake of our security. China has no qualms about doing the same thing.

glad to see you have caught up try to be nice, we knew that think that by the way not thing, it however the best of us want aid to stop people dieing not to buy loyalty as said before even this government is warning the anti aid mob are off target

The saying is that foreign aid takes money from the poor people in rich countries and gives it to the rich people in poor countries.

That as much as 95% of aid get syphoned off to "admin costs" or straight to dictators pockets or terrorist groups is a problem, and careful management is necessary.

That Rudd threw aid at despots to get a UN place was despicable.

Well I said we must see aid is spent better and in truth knew some would post about the gaping holes in our aid and world wide aid, we saw and still see warlords with IQs lower than their boot laces thieve aid, we see such as the 50 million we gave to that home of criminal politics Cambodia, to re house one or was it two refugees, in a country that has more slums than true housing, yes aid must be seen to serve those in need not greed, that is some task in countries without any real respect for law and justice, just maybe the UN can fix that in no way can all those holes make me change my view we as humans should help when we can

//The saying is that foreign aid takes money from the poor people in rich countries and gives it to the rich people in poor countries//

Shadow, who said that? They might say that at Liberal Party branch meetings when they are not busy giving each other black eyes.
My old man used to say, "Son, be careful of the opinions of the They people. They, generally get it wrong." Shadow I think you are one of the They people.

Paul,

Firstly I am not gender neutral, and secondly was he really your father?

"Dean Acheson, Present at the Creation: My Years in the State Department (1969).
That's where all the foreign aid (which might be defined as a transfer from poor people in rich countries to rich people in poor countries) went as well. The U.S. government still squanders about $20 billion a year this way, and European governments spend proportionally even more; it's all gone straight down a giant rathole."

Finally, I challenge your claim that a 3" 1km steel pipe was laid for $4000. You could not even buy the pipe for that.