This is the Australian Government's response to the Independent Review of Aid Effectiveness.

The purpose of this document, entitled An Effective Aid Program for Australia, is to outline the Government's response to the Independent Review and set out the Government's overall aid strategy through to 2015-16. The Government intends to build an aid program that:

• establishes five core strategic goals:
  • saving lives
  • promoting opportunities for all
  • sustainable economic development
  • effective governance
  • humanitarian and disaster response
• establishes 10 individual development objectives that flow from the above goals
• focuses first and foremost on our region
• accepts our global responsibilities, and
• introduces a new system of overall accountability comprising a rolling four-year Cabinet review of the program's overall performance against its stated objectives, as well as a new Transparency Charter for the Australian public so that taxpayers have greater visibility of how their dollars are being spent, and what results are being produced.

The overall theme of this document is very simple—how to maximise the effectiveness and efficiency of the Australian aid program.

Now comes the task of implementation. This will depend on AusAID's leadership; our effective engagement with international development partners; as well as our effective partnerships with Australian business, non-government organisations, volunteers, and the wider Australian public.