Two large topics were discussed at our last gathering. Led by Freida Andrews, the first topic was ‘Should Australia be providing international aid, and if so, who to and how?’. Foreign Aid from Australia has dropped in real terms by one third in our budget over the past three years. One of the major issues explored was whether developing countries are better off receiving government to government aid or would they be better off without it, even if it meant the collapse of the country? Australia is number 16 in the world in percent of our gross National Income given in foreign aid at 0.27%. This is well below the UN agreement with OECD countries of .7% and also well below our best efforts under Holt & Gorton of .48%. Is 0.27% the right amount at $3.22 billion, or should it be less or more?
This led us on to the second topic, Drought Aid. Many questions arose, not least should our international aid go to our farmers or can we do both? There was a good deal of discussion on how we and farmers deal with drought. Questions on how we prepare for drought came up with Brian Vial giving us a great run down on how farmers manage drought and that as with all areas of work some take up new ideas better than others.
Our next Hot Topics are from the top of the list of topics chosen by participants - ’Climate Change - is it relevant for us at our age?’ and ‘Do we need a Bill of Rights?’ This will be held on September 21st at 1:30pm and all are welcome.
Carole Marple
This led us on to the second topic, Drought Aid. Many questions arose, not least should our international aid go to our farmers or can we do both? There was a good deal of discussion on how we and farmers deal with drought. Questions on how we prepare for drought came up with Brian Vial giving us a great run down on how farmers manage drought and that as with all areas of work some take up new ideas better than others.
Our next Hot Topics are from the top of the list of topics chosen by participants - ’Climate Change - is it relevant for us at our age?’ and ‘Do we need a Bill of Rights?’ This will be held on September 21st at 1:30pm and all are welcome.
Carole Marple