Will G20 foreign aid talks make Gillard go red?

The preposterous deferral of foreign aid increase lead to delayed increase in contributions to multilateral development organisations – of which – the World Bank is a part.

Gillard can hold her head high as Australia comparatively has contributed more to the World Bank per capita than even the U.S. ($21.60 compared with $24.20). However her embarrassment is going to arise due to this budget cut considering the context of the G20 talks.

It is unfortunate the view of the government is not as idealistic as that of her British counterpart, David Cameron, who wrote last June: “I don’t believe it would be right to ignore the difference we can make, turn inwards solely to our problems, and effectively balance our books while breaking our promises to the world’s poorest. Instead we should step up, deliver on our promises to the world’s poor and help save millions of lives.”

Ultimately, it will be interesting to see how the budget decision of Prime Minister Gillard and the ‘World’s Best Finance Minister’, Wayne Swan, compares to the twenty most powerful economies’ view on developmental issues. We may witness a red faced Gillard trying to explain to the likes of Cameron why the world’s poor are being outweighed by a clear political tactic in the lead up to a feral election.

Perhaps ABBA wasn’t entirely right; money’s not all that funny “in a rich man’s world”.