Australia Yearbook - 2001

Chapter 3—International relations 109
importance than South Asia, with Indonesia
overtaking India as the second largest recipient
of aid. Progressively Australian aid became no
longer tied to countries that were members of
the British Commonwealth.
Today Papua New Guinea, the South Pacific and
East Asia (in particular Indonesia, Viet Nam and
the Philippines) feature prominently in Australia’s
aid program, as shown in table 3.5.
Initially Australian aid was composed
predominantly of bilateral assistance. In the
1960s cooperation between donor countries
became established as a range of development
agencies were formed, including the OECD’s
Development Assistance Committee (DAC), a
number of new United Nations agencies and the
Asian Development Bank (ADB). In the early
1970s about 7% of Australian aid was provided
to multilateral organisations, whereas now over
a quarter of Australian aid is allocated to them.
Originally the aid program was administered by
several government departments, including the
Department of External Territories, the
Department of Foreign Affairs and the
Departments of Education and Treasury,
reflecting the ad hoc nature of the program.
In the early 1970s, in recognition of the need for
stronger policy direction and coordination, along
with Papua New Guinea achieving independence,
a single government agency was set up to
administer the aid program. First known as the
Australian Development Assistance Agency
(ADAA) then the Australian Development
Assistance Bureau and later as the Australian
International Development Assistance Bureau,
it has evolved into the Australian Agency for
International Development (AusAID).
Over the past twenty years, several reviews of
the Australian aid program have been
undertaken. In 1984 the Minister for Foreign
Affairs commissioned the Jackson Review. The
Review led to a stronger focus on partnerships
with recipient countries through a country
program approach. Instead of selecting
individual projects, country programs were
developed which considered the development
priorities of recipient governments and
Australia’s capacity to assist. Cooperative
relationships were established, with both
recipient and donor governments involved in
the planning and implementation of country
programs. The three agreed principal objectives
for aid stemming from the Jackson Review were
humanitarian assistance, support for Australia’s
strategic interests and promotion of Australia’s
commercial position. In addition the then
Government decided on a geographic focus on
Papua New Guinea, the South Pacific and
South-East Asia, as well as a new sectoral focus
including agriculture, infrastructure
development, health, population planning and
urban development.
In 1996 the Simons Review was commissioned
by the Minister of Foreign Affairs. This led to the
adoption of a single clear objective for the aid
program: to advance Australia’s national interest
by assisting developing countries to reduce
poverty and achieve sustainable development.
The Government decided that Papua New
Guinea, the Pacific and East Asia would continue
to be high priorities for Australian assistance. It
was also decided that health, education, rural
development and governance would be the
priority sectors, in addition to two issues that
cut across the development process: the
promotion of gender equity and the
maximisation of environmental sustainability.
The Government’s response to the Simons
Review strengthened the partnership approach
emphasised in the Jackson Review, noting that
effective partnerships with developing countries
formed the core of Australia’s aid program.
Apart from understanding the need for a
better-targeted and focused aid program there
was also a significant emphasis, in the
Government’s response to the Simons Review,
on improving the quality of the program. This
included support for a more vigorous focus on
defining strategic and program objectives as
well as on allowing better performance
measurement and reporting on aid quality.
The network of Australian
diplomatic and consular
missions overseas
DFAT manages an extensive network of
Australian diplomatic and consular missions
abroad (tables 3.7 to 3.10), supporting Australia’s
international interests and providing consular
and passport services. The department’s central
office is in Canberra and it also maintains offices
in all of the State capitals and in Darwin, as well
as Newcastle and Thursday Island.