Amid the devastation and tragedy of floods and cyclone Yasi in Australia critics have sought to attack our foreign aid spending. The recent natural disasters in Australia have given us a front-row seat to the devastation and suffering that too often we see on our television screens beamed from across the world. As a rich nation, and one that avoided the worst of the global financial meltdown, Australia has the capacity and the resources to help those in need both at home and beyond our borders.
We should give our fair share - Of course Australia is not the only developed nation that gives aid, in fact Australia ranks 16th out of 23 OECD nations in terms of level of foreign aid; hardly generous when we alone survived the global financial crisis. Australia is giving well below the average of what other rich countries are contributing in aid. Australians do respond generously in times of disaster both domestically and internationally. We must not let our compassion end at our borders.
Sign on to help get Australia to give a bit more -
http://www.unicef.org.au/Act/Speak-Out/Commit-to-tackling-poverty.aspx
Extract UNICEF Australia we site
PSI Asia Pacific - Utilities - Electricity - Water & Local Government Network Bulletin Blog - The below items are published as an internal PSI Bulletin monthly or you can follow by each post by e-mail.
