Last December, the Coalition announced the largest cuts to the aid budget in the history of the Australian aid program: $1 billion or 20 per cent in a single year. How and where will these savings be made? To what extent will key bilateral partners, such as PNG and Indonesia, be protected – and which countries and regions will experience the brunt of the cuts? Will multilateral and NGO allocations be protected, or savaged? Which sectors will be cut? Will humanitarian aid again be compressed? On Wednesday 13 May, experts delivered detailed analysis and commentary during the third Development Policy Centre 2015 Aid Budget Breakfast.

Speakers included: Prof Stephen Howes Director of the Development Policy Centre, and colleagues, who discussed aid volumes, allocations and policies. Dr Anthony Swan Research Fellow at the Development Policy Centre, who analysed the macro and fiscal context of the budget. Dr Julia Newton-Howes AM CEO of CARE Australia, and Ms Jacqui de Lacy, General Manager for Global Strategy at Abt JTA, who provided commentary on what the budget may mean for NGOs and other members of the Australian development community.

Make sure you also read our in-depth analysis on the blog http://devpolicy.org/tag/2015-australian-aid-budget/

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