Aid to Indonesia
will be considerably cut by the Abbott government in next week's budget, but is
unlikely to be directly linked as retribution to the executions of Andrew
Chan and Myuran Sukumaran.
The aid budget will face the
biggest cut to its programs in Australia's history as it
is slashed by $1 billion. This is expected to affect assistance
offered to Indonesia – Australia's largest aid beneficiary that was
offered $605.3 million last year.
The cuts are so significant that
Fairfax Media understands ambassadors from African countries including
Botswana, Kenya, Zimbabwe, Angola and Ethiopia pleaded to the joint standing
committee on foreign affairs and aid not to cut aid to their impoverished nations
during a meeting in March.
A Liberal MP who was present at
the meeting confirmed that the ambassadors addressed the members of the
committee, saying they "implored" the government not to cut aid to
their countries due to the extreme levels of poverty.
The director of the Australian
Council for International Development, Marc Purcell, said the government
would have to walk a thin line in how they present the aid cuts, particularly
to Indonesia.
On one hand, the majority of the
Australian public want Indonesian aid to be affected, but on the other hand
Australia has to maintain its diplomatic relationship with Indonesia, he said.
"The facts are that aid to
Indonesia was always going to be cut in this forthcoming budget as part of the
$1 billion cuts announced by Joe Hockey," Mr Purcell said.
He said Foreign Minister Julie
Bishop had been placed between a "rock and a hard place".
"There is a segment of the
public baying for retribution by cutting the aid," he said. "But it
could also risk diplomatic relations with Indonesia if it is misjudged."
He also predicted that aid to
Africa would be "gutted" in the budget.
Yet the massive reductions are
not anticipated to touch any country that offers the processing or resettlement
of asylum seekers and refugees, academics have predicted. This includes Papua
New Guinea, which is Australia's second largest receiver of
aid, receiving $577.1 million last year. It also includes Nauru and
Cambodia.
Robin Davies, research
fellow for the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies
in Geneva said no matter how big the cuts are in Indonesia, the government will
find itself in a bind.
"It will certainly be seen
in some areas as retribution," he said.
"I'm not sure the government
will be too concerned if it is seen as retaliation."
Professor Stephen Howes, the
director of the Development Policy Centre at the Australian National
University, said the lack of public awareness to the extent of the cuts to aid
could lead many people to believe that Australia had cut aid to Indonesia as
retaliation.
"This is the biggest cut to
aid ever... it is certain that aid to Indonesia will be cut." SMH
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