The immigration reporter from the Sydney Morning Herald has discovered the Australian slash part of the Three MDG Fund slash and burn.
Will any Australians lose their jobs over this cut? What 3MDG Fund activity areas will feel the pinch? Will the Fund cut back on building all those primary health care centres?
The article says that the Three Millennium Development Goal Fund did not respond to calls made by Fairfax Media. I wonder why not?
Jamie
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Australia slashes $55m in aid to Myanmar, development fund says
Sarah Whyte
Sydney Morning Herald
June 8, 2015
The Three Millennium Development Goal Fund says Australia is slashing its contribution.
Myanmar's largest development organisation has accused Australia of slashing nearly $55 million to its health care program as a result of the Abbott government's latest cuts to foreign aid.
The Three Millennium Development Goal Fund, of which Australia is currently the chair, has announced on its website that Australia will not be contributing an allocated US$42 million ($54.9 million) to the organisation.
The full effects of the $11 billion aid cuts made by the Coalition are only being felt now by some individual organisations, as others wait to see how their country's programs will be affected.
A statement on the Three Millennium Development Goal Fund (3MDG) website read: "On the 12 May the Australian government announced cuts to its foreign aid budget.
"As a result, Australia will not be making a planned further contribution to the Three Millennium Development Goal Fund of approximately US$42 million. Australia remains the second largest contributor to the fund, having already provided US$48.2 million and remains the chair of the 3MDG Fund board."
The group, which works in partnership with the Myanmar government, is also funded by foreign aid from Denmark, the European Union, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom and the US.
Between 2012 and 2016, the organisation, which is currently the largest development fund in Myanmar, received $330 million from its major foreign donors.
In its statement it said the Australian cuts would have "no immediate impact" on current programs, including child and maternal health as well as addressing HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis.
Under the aid cuts from Australia's Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Myanmar, which has recently been in the political spotlight for its treatment of the Rohingya people, lost 40 per cent of its funding from $70.1 million down to $42.1 million.
A spokeswoman from DFAT said: "The Australian government is consulting the government of Myanmar on our aid program for 2015-16. Final decisions have not yet been made regarding individual investments."
It comes as would-be Australian volunteers were also only recently told that government-funded volunteer positions with the Red Cross, Scope Global and Australian Volunteers International have been put on hold due to the cuts to the aid budget.
Three Millennium Development Goal Fund did not respond to calls made by Fairfax Media.
Do you know more? Email swhyte@fairfaxmedia.com.au
http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/australia-slashes-55m-in-aid-to-myanmar-development-fund-says-20150608-ghj67w.html
