27 Feb 2025
UK aid cut: Implications for an increasingly lonely Australia
Starmer’s announcement is another demonstration of a narrowing perception of global security.
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9 Dec 2024
Australia is out to lunch on disaster diplomacy
Despite multiple strategies, frameworks and partnerships, Canberra still lags on regional disaster relief. -
30 Oct 2024
Pooled funds give Australia’s new humanitarian strategy a boost
Flexibility is essential when responding to a crisis – especially those far from home. -
18 Oct 2024
Can Australia’s new Humanitarian Policy deliver?
The effort is laudable, and a step in the right direction, with more ambition and local engagement needed. -
21 Aug 2024
Australia takes a big first step to engage civil society in foreign policy
With a new multi-million dollar fund, Canberra underscores the importance of robust and transparent democracy. -
27 Jun 2024
Aid discrepancies: Australia’s modest help to the Horn of Africa
The optics of such a small aid package against significant need could undermine Australia’s image as a significant player in international humanitarian assistance. -
23 Feb 2024
Economic diplomacy: Strategic funding comes in from the cold
A new review may cast a revealing light on how the government uses third-party institutions to shape the country’s strategic thinking. -
31 Oct 2023
Infrastructure for influence: Pacific Islands building spree
Even with stabilising debt and higher revenues, the region’s needs still outpace funding. Partnerships are key. -
12 Sep 2023
Finding a place for youth leadership in Australia’s new International Development Policy
Young people will be central to addressing regional challenges so their meaningful inclusion must be ensured. -
7 Sep 2023
Does Australia lack strategic imagination on aid and development?
A debate on fundamentals is sorely needed but conspicuously lacking. -
31 Aug 2023
Economic diplomacy: Spirit of Australia charts a fresh course
The government is fashioning a more interventionist economic leg to the new amity between its aid policy, regional diplomacy and military spending. -
16 May 2023
Life in Australia’s aid program - but not as we know it
The cost of development measures is being spread across government in creative ways, making coordination harder. -
5 May 2023
Budget time: Will Labor rebuild Australia’s aid program, and how?
Global crisis and shifting economic realities mean Australia must both rebuild and modernise its development efforts. -
25 Jan 2023
Chinese aid to the Pacific: decreasing, but not disappearing
With fewer Chinese finances available and less demand from Pacific countries, geopolitical competition is opening up. -
7 Dec 2022
Australia could lead the way on Rohingya crisis
Canberra is well placed to broker a new deal for resettling the region’s most vulnerable refugees. -
2 Nov 2022
Where does Australia’s new aid budget leave gender equality?
Gender equality is not just an “add-on”, it is essential to a functioning society. Funding must reflect that. -
16 Sep 2022
Five reasons Australia should establish a Development Finance Institution
A DFI would expand Canberra’s development toolkit and re-establish the country as a serious financing partner in Asia. -
7 Apr 2022
Economic diplomacy: Priorities shift amid a budget aid boost
The IMF has given Chinese spending a tick as Australia tries to muscle up in the Pacific. -
12 May 2021
Australian aid: How low can it go?
As the developing world suffers a crisis unlike any ever seen, the budget shows Australia at its least generous ever. -
23 Apr 2021
Timor-Leste’s floods and Covid lockdown aggravate political rifts
Mounting crises raise questions about infrastructure spending, the uses of oil wealth and the need for elite consensus. -
13 Apr 2021
Dili floods a costly consequence of poor urban planning
Reactive measures by the Timor-Leste government and aid from overseas won’t prevent the same disaster next time. -
1 Dec 2020
The UK’s unwelcome foreign aid cut
Amid a pandemic and shifting geopolitics, the aid budget was a victim of its own size – and domestic pressures. -
7 Oct 2020
A budget of skewed priorities
As Australia faces one of the most challenging international environments in a century, it still skimps on diplomacy. -
7 Aug 2020
The Beirut explosion and the plight of Syrian refugees
The blast that killed over 100 and injured thousands is also a reminder of the fragile existence of millions. -
20 Dec 2019
Little to gain from linking Australia’s aid with China in the Pacific
Canberra is the biggest donor in the neighbourhood and has regional goals very different from Beijing. -
21 Nov 2019
Economic diplomacy: Australia’s BRI, aid revamp, and integrating Asia
The now snappily rebranded Export Finance Australia is becoming the go-to agency in the era of geo-economic competition. -
17 Apr 2019
Follow the money: how foreign aid spending tells of Pacific priorities
Donor countries, be it Australia or China, illustrate their regional interests by where they choose to put their cash. -
25 Mar 2019
Reset required for DFAT-AusAID integration
The promised magic to align aid with interests hasn’t actually materialised as power has shifted from the old aid club. -
15 Oct 2018
Reconciling with China in the Pacific
To overcome suspicion, Australia should work to reshape the multilateral system for better global collaboration on aid. -
25 Jan 2018
Australian aid can secure private investment in frontier markets
Meeting urgent infrastructure needs in PNG is an example where public support can boost private investment. -
22 Jan 2018
Aid and development links: Nile dams, refugees as investment, teaching salaries, and more
Links from across the aid and development field. -
15 Dec 2017
An investment bank for Australia’s aid program
To ensure a diminished foreign aid budget has impact, Australia needs to start investing. -
12 Dec 2017
Aid and development links: Working women, populism, peacekeeping and more
Updates from across the aid and development field. -
4 Dec 2017
Aid and development links: Yemen blockade, Chinese aid, infectious diseases and more
Updates on issues across the aid and development sector. -
24 Nov 2017
The fall and fall of Australia’s aid program
The White Paper diminishes and stifles Australia's international development story. -
20 Nov 2017
Aid and development links: Technology in Africa, COP23, development research and more
Jonathan Pryke, Director of the Lowy Institute's Pacific Islands Program, with links on updates across the field. -
16 Nov 2017
Australia makes a welcome Pacific connection
It's rare win-win for anyone not working in Huawei’s Pacific branch. -
13 Nov 2017
Aid and development links: Myanmar, China’s aid, the challenges of terrorism and more
Jonathan Pryke, Director of the Pacific Islands Program, with links on updates across the aid and development field. -
7 Nov 2017
Cleaning up the Manus damage
PNG is Australia’s nearest neighbour, former colony and one of Australia’s most important bilateral partners. -
6 Nov 2017
Aid & development links: Female empowerment, OECD ODA, tax havens and more
Links on updates across the aid and development field. -
30 Oct 2017
Aid and development links: NZ’s aid program, transparency, the poverty line and more
Alexandre Dayant, a Research Associate in the Pacific Islands Program, with links on updates across the aid and development fields. -
17 Jul 2017
Aid and development links: Kenyan elections, the SDGs, aid systems and more
A basic income trial in Kenya, the fascinating and lucrative relationship between North Korea and Africa, how the aid system needs to change and more. -
26 Jun 2017
Aid and development links: Contractors, WHO leadership, aid budgets and more
The role of private contractors in the aid sector, how impact-measuring affects development, the link between resources and violence, and more. -
10 May 2017
Australian aid budget: It could have been worse
It's clear that public support isn’t enough for a government that does not view aid as an election issue. -
27 Mar 2017
Aid and development links: How to sell aid to voters, taxing remittances, edible drones and more
Is it more effective to appeal to the national interest or to ethics when discussing aid with the public? -
20 Mar 2017
Aid and development links: War in Yemen, inequality rankings, cash transfers and more
The aid implications of Trump's budget, in defence of British aid spending, Indonesia moving away from being an aid recipient, and more. -
14 Mar 2017
Aid & Development links: Kenya tests universal basic income, Salome Karwah, South Sudan famine and more
Universal basic income experiment in Kenya, South Sudanese government increases foreign aid visa fees days after famine declared, fund opposing Trump's global gag rule reaches $190 million and more. -
6 Mar 2017
Aid and Development links: American aid, financial literacy, demonetisation and more
The future of US aid, cash transfers in Lebanon, universal basic income and more. -
28 Feb 2017
Hard-wiring aid and development to foreign policy
We cannot create greater prosperity and security for Australia if we pursue a set of narrowly defined interests using a piecemeal strategy. -
27 Feb 2017
Aid & development links: Famine in Sudan, universal basic incomes, fighting cholera and more
News, research and analysis from around the world.