In Inside Story, Michael Cornish assesses the report of the Independent Review of Aid Effectiveness

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IT’S BEEN a fortnight since the report of the Independent Review of Aid Effectiveness was finally released to the public, together with the federal government’s response. The review managed to be strong yet cautious, an amazing balancing act of political tact for which the panel should be commended.

This is an aptly timed review, with the aid program facing a massive scale-up to a heady 0.5 per cent of gross national income by 2015–16 from 0.35 per cent this financial year. While 0.5 per cent is still well short of the 0.7 per cent adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations in 1970 – a figure with obscure current relevance except as a useful advocacy tool – it is certainly heading in the right direction. The massive expansion in Australia’s aid program enjoys bipartisan support, a rarity in the current political climate. Both political parties realise that Australians can and should be more generous to those far less fortunate than us. And Australia is generous. Despite falling short of the 0.7 per cent target, Australia is the twelfth biggest donor of official development, punching above its weight as the world’s seventeenth biggest economy (according to purchasing power parity)…