2015 aid budget breakfast

Last December, the Coalition announced the largest cuts to the aid budget in the history of the Australian aid program: $1 billion or 20 per cent in a single year.

How and where will these savings be made? To what extent will key bilateral partners, such as PNG and Indonesia, be protected – and which countries and regions will experience the brunt of the cuts? Will multilateral and NGO allocations be protected, or savaged? Which sectors will be cut? Will humanitarian aid again be compressed?

All will be revealed in the 2015-16 budget to be brought down on Tuesday 12 May. It might not be pleasant, but will be perhaps the most important budget ever for aid. There has never been before, and there may never be again, such radical change in the aid program in a single year. The decisions made in the coming budget will shape the aid program for many more to come.

Join us at the Development Policy Centre the morning after the 2015-16 budget for the third annual aid budget breakfast to learn what the 2015-16 budget means for the future of Australian aid.

Speakers include:

• Professor Stephen Howes Director of the Development Policy Centre, and colleagues, who will discuss aid volumes, allocations and policies.
• Dr Anthony Swan Research Fellow at the Development Policy Centre, who will analyse the macro and fiscal context of the budget.
• Dr Julia Newton-Howes AM CEO of CARE Australia, and Ms Jacqui De Lacy, General Manager for Global Strategy at Abt JTA, who will provide commentary on what the budget may mean for NGOs and other members of the Australian development community.

This forum is presented by the Development Policy Centre at Crawford School of Public Policy, The Australian National University.

This event will be livestreamed. The live stream begins at 9am and you can access the link here.