Foreword
This 2008‑09 Budget lays the foundation for implementing the Government's election commitment to increase Australia's official development assistance (ODA) to 0.5 per cent of Gross National Income (GNI) by 2015-16.
This Budget is a building block in the Government's scaling up in Australia's development assistance, with a projected 9 per cent real increase in total ODA over the 2007‑08 Budget figure, bringing total ODA in 2008‑09 to $3.7 billion, equal to 0.32 per cent of GNI. The Government expects to increase Australia's ODA to levels equivalent to 0.35 per cent of GNI in 2009‑10, 0.37 per cent of GNI in 2010‑11 and 0.38 per cent of GNI in 2011‑12.
The Budget includes a package of new measures designed to take forward the Government's development assistance priorities. In particular, the Budget gives effect to the Government's election commitments to:
- address climate change challenges by strengthening adaptation efforts in the region through an investment of $150 million over three years;
- establish Australian leadership on eliminating avoidable blindness in the region as part of a broader policy on disability in development through an investment of $45 million over two years; and
- improve access to clean water and sanitation through an investment of $300 million over three years.
The Budget also encourages faster progress towards the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by:
- increasing Australia's multilateral engagement, through increased multilateral development financing and an increase in Australia's core funding for key United Nations agencies leading efforts to achieve the MDGs; and
- establishing new programs in infrastructure development, land administration and public sector capacity building, to contribute to the Prime Minister's March 2008 Port Moresby Declaration on achieving better development outcomes for Pacific island nations through new Pacific Partnerships for Development.
We are also committed to continuing to improve the effectiveness of Australia's official development assistance and are pleased to present this overview of our plans for 2008‑09, a first step in meeting our long-term ODA commitments.
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Stephen Smith |
Bob McMullan |
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