Cost - Benefit analysis of aid links

The benefits of foreign aid:

1/ For the recipient country:

• Economic growth
• Better living standards through improved health and education services and infrastructure.
• The promotion of greater political stability through democracy, freedom and human rights.
• Sustainable development.
• Improved social justice and equity.

2/ For the donor country:

Strengthens economic, political, strategic and cultural ties between countries.

Economic advantages:

• Provides job opportunities for Australians, increases export sales and helps Australian companies access new and future markets.
• Preferential treatment in access to natural resources like oil and minerals.

Geopolitical and strategic advantages:

• By addressing poverty and other development issues, civil unrest, refugees and terrorism may be reduce.
• Donor countries give aid in return for access to military bases and to solidify alliances.
• Strengthen diplomatic ties.

The costs for recipient nations:

• Environmental – Aid is often given to develop large-scale projects such as mines and plantations so it gives negative impacts in the environment.
• Social and cultural – It promotes the donor country's economic interests more than the local communities, making the recipients over-dependent on aid.
• Economic – when aid is given to the recipients, competition is reduced, prices going up and aid money is wasted.
• Geopolitical – It leads to the corruption in a country because aid usually given through the government and it doesn't reach to the people who really need it.

Cost for Donor countries:

• Giving aid to the poverty and developing countries also means that they remain dependent on Australian annual budget.

AusAid -Environment ---Peter, Rosa and Denise :)

Australian Aid Program focus on Achieving environmental sustainability as well as one of the Millenium Development Goals (MDGs)

Challenges:

-People who lives in poor areas, depends on productive soil, forests, oceans and fresh water. Without protecting natural systems, there is a risk that livelihood gains made through economic growth and development will not be sustainable over the long term..

- Lead to climate change and will impact on all major development sectors, through potential for increased venerability of communities to disasters, increased spread disease, low-end agricultural productivity and increased cost of infrastructure provision. 

- Asian countries that are poor will be affected by the green house gases through energy generation, transport, industrial activity and deforestation.

- Australia has committed significant resources to combat the effect of climate change gloablly and in our region.

- Australia will work closely to those countries and organisations to identify needs and effective responses in the area of adaption , technology cooperation and deforestation.

Australia's response:

Australia will work closely with other donors, international organisations and developing countries to identify needs and effective responses in the areas of adaptation, technology cooperation and deforestation. 

Kevin Rudd's Speech

Kevin Rudd's speech on February 13, 2008 highlighted the big problem being faced by the Australian government toward the Indigenous community, the stolen generation.

In this speech, the current Prime Minister Kevin Rudd represented the Australian Government formally apologized to the Indigenous about the removal of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children from their families, community and those who suffered in their own land. He also indicated a real life story, an Indigenous woman, a victim who got stolen from her family when she was four years old. Through this story, he gave us a point of view from a person who has been suffering in the new culture, an example of life that might touch our heart and change our mind toward to the Indigenous people.

His speech has a very-well structure which also reveal the past, concern about the present and promise to the future that the justice will be brought back to the Indigenous and the "Close the gap" campaign, that the gap of hatred will be closed soon in the future and the relationship between the Indigenous people and the non-Indigenous is gaining over time.

Overall, Kevin Rudd and the government had realized the mistreatment that the former governments have made and apologized for that, and he also promised to make sure that the Indigenous will have a better future and hope that together, the Australian community will grow better.