Australia the anti-humanitarian nation

By Leith van Onselen

Fairfax’s Matt Wade has penned an illuminating article on the decline in foreign aid given by Australia:

Back in 1995, as the economy recovered from the deep recession earlier that decade, we reached a ranking of 9th on the international league table of overseas aid donors measured by the share of gross national income devoted to overseas development assistance.

That year Australia contributed 34 cents for every $100 dollars of national income to help poorer nations.

Now, after more than a quarter of a century of uninterrupted growth, we’ve slipped to 17th place on that donor ladder.

Despite being richer than ever, Australia can now muster only 22 cents in aid for every $100 of national income…

Last week a “peer review” of Australia’s aid program by the influential Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development was unusually critical of the government’s aid performance. It called for Australia to “reverse” the trend of deep aid cuts…

It’s not just foreign aid where Australia performing poorly, but also its immigration program. And the problems extend well beyond merely locking up refugees in offshore detention.

The next chart summarises the story:

Australia’s permanent migration program is currently set at 208,000 and has been around that level for several years. The breakdown of this program is currently as follows:

• 18,000 humanitarian intake;
• 60,000 family intake; and
• 130,000 skilled intake.

You will note that the overwhelming majority of Australia’s permanent migration program are so-called ‘skilled’ migrants, which comprise some 62% of the total intake. Around 80% of these ‘skilled’ migrants come from developing nations, with most working in jobs well below their reported level of skill (e.g. driving an Uber). There is also widespread visa rorting and exploitation going on. By comparison, Australia’s humanitarian intake is comparatively tiny at just 9% of the total.

Therefore, in addition to being a scrooge on foreign aid, Australia’s immigration system is built around robbing developing nations of their skilled human resources – thus stifling their economic development – while at the same time accepting a comparatively tiny number of refugees.

Pu simply, Australia is running an anti-humanitarian foreign aid and immigration policy.

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