Tell your Local MP that that every minute counts

Australia ranks a lowly 16th out of the world's 23 richest nations in terms of the generosity of our overseas aid commitment. We also avoided the global financial crisis relatively unscathed and have debt levels much lower than many other rich nations that have already committed 0.7% of their Gross National Income (GNI) in aid. If you believe Australia can and should be contributing its fair share and increase our aid commitment to 0.7% of GNI (just 70 cents out of every $100 that Australia earns), please write to your local MP now. A copy of the email I sent to my local member of Parliment is below:

 

To My Local Federal MP

I would like to thank your party for its commitment to increase Australia’s overseas aid to 0.5% of our Gross National Income (GNI) by 2015. I am concerned however that although this is a substantial improvement on our current level of overseas aid, it still falls well short of the 0.7% of GNI required if we are to do our fair share towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

The Make Poverty History coalition has been running public electoral forums on this issue for a number of months in the lead up to the election. I recently watched a compilation video including comments from some of the MPs and other candidates who have so far attended these events.

I was surprised to learn for instance that Australia ranks a lowly 16th (out of the world's 23 richest nations) in terms of our contribution in overseas aid. And that a decade after committing to meet the MDGs, neither of the two major parties yet has a timetable for increasing our contribution to 0.7% in-line with the commitments of other rich nations.

Having 0.7% as an "aspiration" goal, or waiting to grow Australia's economic "pie" still further, isn't good enough.

I was even more surprised and saddened to learn of our ranking given we are just one of a handful of countries to have escaped the global financial relatively unharmed. With so little debt in relation to other rich nations, Australia can and should be doing more.

A commitment to 0.7% will not only bring Australia into line with the contributions of other rich nations, but more importantly, it will help to transform the lives of hundreds of thousands of poor people living in poverty around the world.

With 17 children dying from preventable diseases every minute in developing countries, and knowing that doing our fair share could substantially reduce this toll, I remind you that Every Minute Counts.

I would appreciate you getting back to me prior to the election to tell me what you will be doing to ensure Australia does its fair share and commits 0.7% of our GNI in overseas aid.

Yours
Sarah Jones