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Picture this. There are two boats on a river. One, a luxurious cruise
ship, the other a raft, barely staying afloat. Whilst staff on the cruise
ship continue to build their already lavish boat, people on the raft
below call out for help. They’re sinking. ‘Sorry!’ call out the crew on
the cruise ship, ‘we can’t afford to help you, we need to build the 37th
floor of our ship.’ The cruise ship sails on, and the raft is left behind,
slowly sinking. Seems pretty unreasonable, don’t you think? Words
that come tomind include selfish, greedy and uncaring, to name a few.
Not typically words you would associate with Australia. Yet, I’m
ashamed to inform you, that as far as my metaphor goes, the cruise
ship represents our great country, and the poor, struggling raft could
substitute for any number of third world countries we are refusing to
help. Tony Abbott’s decision to cut foreign aid is embarrassing. It is a
deep contradiction of Australia’s moral obligations as an affluent
nation, and will not only adversely affect the people in recipient
countries, but will also permanently damage Australia’s international
reputation.
Abbott’s primary explanation of the cuts is that, ‘We will build
the roads of the 21st century rather than shovel money abroad.’ Ah
Tony, tactful as always! I’m sure Australian aid recipients in Africa
and the Middle East would hardly perceive their desperately needed
funds as ‘[shovelled] money.’ In fact, we know, and Abbott knows,
that for many people, foreign aid is the difference between life and
death. I’m sure I don’t need to tell you that less funding will mean
vulnerable people in developing countries will continue to be
entrenched in a deep and devastating cycle of poverty. Here, at
Ruyton, under the sublime leadership of Zoe Rachcoff, our
Sustainability Captain, we sponsor the local, disadvantaged worm
community, providing the little slugs the opportunity to develop and
grow to their full potential, allowing them to reach the ripe old age
of six, the life expectancy for your average worm. Yet, we must
remind ourselves, that we live in a world in which we must sponsor
not only the local worms, but children, who, unlike us, were not born
among the lucky few, who have a lesser chance of reaching their sixth
birthday than the worms of Kew. And, if we parallel the Ruyton
community’s sponsorshipofworms, with theAustraliancommunity’s
sponsorship of people in developing countries, I think you’ll find
that as a school, we are doing a lot more for the worms, than our
nation is doing for people in developing countries.
Cuts To
Foreign Aid?
What’s Going
On, Australia?
Lauren Sibree
Alan Patterson Public
Speaking Award
Winner