In 2000, the then Australian Prime Minister John Howard, along with 188 other world leaders, signed the United Nations Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) Declaration. Australia's signature on this declaration was a commitment to help the world's poorest of the poor.
In a historic sign of solidarity with the world's most vulnerable communities, world leaders committed to a global action plan to eradicate extreme poverty and hunger by 2015 — a commitment that Australian aid agencies robustly applaud.
For the world leaders who signed the declaration in 2000, poverty was not defined by the boundaries of states and regions. Needless human suffering is prolific, and as a leading international donor, the Australian Government is obliged to respond accordingly.
Caritas Australia is one of the largest Australian NGOs working in the Pacific. With more than 30 years experience in long-term development and emergency response, it knows the Pacific is a region enormously vulnerable to disasters and the impact of climate change; is plagued by HIV/AIDS and is in dire need of our support to build capacity in health services, education and agriculture.
In Papua New Guinea alone, Caritas Australia has facilitated HIV testing for 100,000 people, empowering communities to make informed health decision for themselves and their families.
The poverty and lack of opportunity endured by millions across the Asia-Pacific region is a disgrace, and ought to demand our Government's attention, but it is not enough to try to achieve the MDGs 'at home'.
It is impossible for Australia to turn its back on Africa. Former Foreign Affairs Minister, Stephen Smith aptly noted, 'Australia is a country of the Indian ocean as well as a Pacific Nation' — the distance from Perth to Nairobi is 8904km; from Sydney to Beijing is 8947km.
Africa is the poorest continent on earth and the region that is least on track to meet the MDG targets. Almost 50 per cent of people in Sub-Saharan Africa live on less than $1.25 US per day.
Australia's recent shift to double the aid budget to Africa recognises this. That said, aggregated figures of despair should not outshine the remarkable gains that have been made in the region due to the long-standing efforts of church and non-government organisations.
For instance, in Zambia, Caritas Australia supports projects that have seen up to 3000 vulnerable people in one community alone yielding more crops, better managing livestock, and accessing clean water, sanitation and health services. Knowledge and prevention of HIV/AIDS, Malaria and TB has grown exponentially, women have acquired invaluable leadership skills, a once marginal community better understands its social and legal rights, and 500 children have the opportunity to attend school.
In Uganda, Caritas Australia and AusAID have supported almost 2000 households to increase and diversify their crop yields by adopting sustainable agricultural practices including soil conservation, water management and pest control. Consequently more than 11,000 people have improved nutrition and greater capacity to generate income: 74 per cent of families now sell enough produce locally to invest in their health and children's education.
It's a story that's repeated in communities in the Congo, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Tanzania, Zimbabwe, and indeed throughout the world where grass-roots organisations seek to break down the structural causes of poverty that permeate our international community.
In a recent article in The Australian, entitled 'Prudent aid agenda is a foreign concept to Rudd', Associate Professor of Public Policy at Australian Catholic University, Gary Johns, challenged the Australian Government's aid agenda, in particular its growing support of African nations.
Johns' views were surprising given the primary objective of ACU's Public Policy Institute — to inform and influence Australian public policy in line with the ethical and values-based mission of the Catholic Church. He suggests the Government's focus should be 'to keep an eye on its own back yard' and 'assist from within our region'.
In so doing, Johns blatantly dismisses the fundamental principles of solidarity, human dignity, common good and option for the poor that ought to define his work.
The Catholic Church and its institutions are called to engage in liberating mission of God. It advocates on behalf of and with the poor because that is what we are called to do. The very solidarity that is central to its mission obliges it to work alongside the poor, wherever they are.
On his first trip to the UK last month, Pope Benedict XVI remarked that global human development ought to command the world's attention no less than did the fall of global financial institutions: 'Where human lives are concerned, time is always short ... here is an enterprise, worthy of the world's attention, that is truly 'too big to fail'.'
Commentary suggesting Australia's aid budget is wasteful or self-serving is at best unhelpful and at worst a gross misconstruction of what Catholic institutions are called to do as contributors to public policy. Aid delivered at the grassroots has the capacity to bring lasting change the world over. Who are we to deny millions that grace?
Jack de Groot is Chief Executive Officer of Caritas Australia, Secretary to the Australian Catholic Bishops Commission for Justice and Development, and Adjunct Professor, Australian Catholic University. Image courtesy Caritas Australia.