Intelligence Squared Debates: Foreign Aid is a Waste of Money

There has been much negativity in the media lately; the global financial crisis, the Eurozone crisis, The Age newspaper moving from broadsheet to tabloid. Sometimes it’s easy to forget that we live in ‘the lucky country’.

1.4 billion people in our world currently live below the extreme poverty line, which is less than $2 a day. According to UNICEF, nearly 9 million children under 5 die every year from avoidable, poverty-related illnesses.

As a proportion of gross national income, Australia’s aid spending sits at around 0.35 per cent. Compare that to the average for all developed nations, 0.48 per cent, and you see that despite our prosperity, we are not the most generous of countries.

If this topic interests you as much as it interests me, then you might like to head to the Wheeler Centre’s Intelligence Squared Debate on Foreign Aid. Six of the sharpest, most informed opinions on the issue of Foreign Aid will debate in favour of, or in opposition to, the proposition that Foreign Aid is a Waste of Money.

WHEN: Wednesday 4 July, 6:30pm-8:30pm
WHERE: Melbourne Town Hall, 90-120 Swanston Street, Melbourne
WEB: wheelercentre.com/calendar/event/foreign-aid-is-a-waste-of-money/ (Tickets $20, $12 conc)