Foreign Aid is a Waste of Money
Wednesday, 4 Jul 2012, 06:30pm - 08:30pm
Past event
The Wheeler Centre and St James Ethics Centre combine once again in 2012 to bring you another series of Intelligence Squared debates.
Established in 2002, IQ2 has spread from across the globe, bringing the traditional form of Cambridge and Oxford Unions-style debating – with two sides proposing and opposing a sharply formed motion – to Melbourne Town Hall.
From child soldiers in Sudan to gang violence in Papua New Guinea; tsunamis in the Pacific to earthquakes in New Zealand, we’re confronted with communities in need every day.
Who should we help? How can we be sure our aid dollars reach their destination? Some believe that aid traps communities in a cycle of dependence, holding them back from developing their own systems and managing their own issues. So on balance, do those dollars hurt more than they help?
And with endemic poverty in Australia’s indigenous communities and natural disaster breaking Queensland’s budget – should we ‘take care of our own’ first?
Arguing for the proposition will be Greg Sheridan (Foreign Editor, The Australian), James Goodman (Chair, AidWatch; Associate Professor in Social and Political Change, UTS) and Tim Wilson (Director, International Property and Free Trade Unit, IPA). Against it will be Martin Thomas (Head of Public Affairs and External Relations, World Vision Australia), Samah Hadid (National Director, Global Poverty Project) and Andrew Hewett (Executive Director, Oxfam; Co-Chair, Make Poverty History).
Attending this event? Use #iq2oz to tag your tweets.
Featuring
Greg Sheridan is the Australian’s foreign editor, and one of the most influential foreign affairs analysts in Australian journalism. After 35 years in the field, he is a veteran of international affairs who has interviewed leaders all over the Asia Pacific and America. He began journalism in the l... Read more
James Goodman has been on the management committee of the aid-monitoring group AidWatch since 1999. He has campaigned and researched on global justice issues since the mid 1990s and is co-author of a new book on the policy ideas of the global justice movement. James played a central role in the AidW... Read more
Samah Hadid is the National Director of The Global Poverty Project. She has campaigned widely on social justice and women’s rights issues. Samah was selected as the 2010 Australian Youth Representative to the United Nations, and completed a fellowship with the United Nations Office of the High Com... Read more
Tim Wilson is the Member for Goldstein. He was first elected in 2016 and achieved the strongest result in the Goldstein’s history for the Liberal Party. As a proud liberal he is committed to economic and social freedom, underpinned by the preservation of our culture and institutions. He formerly s... Read more
Martin Thomas is the Head of Public Affairs and External Relations at World Vision Australia. He has worked in the aid and development sector for more than a decade both for World Vision and UNICEF, in Australia and overseas. The senior roles Martin has held during this time include Director of Advo... Read more
Andrew Hewett is Executive Director of Oxfam Australia. Andrew’s previous positions with Oxfam include leadership of the agency’s advocacy program and the direction of Oxfam International’s response to the crisis in East Timor from 1999 – 2001. Andrew has extensive international advocacy... Read more
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