Foreign Aid Budget

The majority voted against increasing the International Development Assistance Budget from 0.5% of Gross National Income (GNI) to 0.7%.

Motions

That the Senate—

(a) congratulates the Prime Minister (Ms Gillard) on her appointment to co-chair a global leadership group on achieving the Millennium Development Goals;

(b) notes that:

(i) in 1970, Australia endorsed the United Nations target to allocate 0.7 per cent of Gross National Income (GNI) to foreign aid,

(ii) the former Prime Minister (Mr Howard) endorsed the 0.7 per cent target when he signed on to the Millennium Development Goals, and

(iii) on 22 November 2011, the Senate voted to reaffirm a bipartisan commitment to increase the International Development Assistance Budget to at least 0.5 per cent of GNI by 2015; and

(c) calls on the Government to:

(i) recommit to 0.5 per cent of GNI to be allocated to Australia's foreign aid budget by 2015, and

(ii) commit to re-evaluating the provision of 0.7 per cent of GNI to the foreign aid budget in order to bring Australia in line with achieving the Millennium Development Goals.