Christine Milne (Tasmania, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Senator Bob Carr. Can the minister confirm that keeping our overseas aid budget at 0.35 per cent of GNI for 2012-13 saves the government $447 million in the next financial year and almost $3 billion over the forward estimates? If so, can the minister explain why the government is balancing the books on the back of the world's poorest people, especially since the Australian Council for International Development has said that these funds could have saved 800,000 lives?