Transcript
New Zealand's Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Foreign Affairs, Fletcher Tabuteau, opened the workshop setting the tone for the day, "being in the Pacific, of the Pacific, that is our focus".
He drew attention to the government's so-called 'Pacific Reset' focussing on regional development issues around climate change, human development, youth, gender and human rights.
Mr Tabuteau highlighted the additional $US488 million in this year's aid budget which increases the pool to $US1.5 billion over the current four year funding cycle.
He said the economics stack up.
"Focusing our increased aid on the Pacific actually makes a lot of sense. Every dollar spent today reduces the risk of expensive interventions in the future whether they are military, border security or healthcare. But it is also about doing what is right."
What's right, according to one of the workshop organisers from the Australian National University, is fostering a stronger and more prosperous neighbourhood.
Terence Wood says regional stability and economic development benefits all.
"If you have a large population of unemployed young men anywhere on earth that's a recipe for trouble. So if you can try and bring about economic change that improves people's employment opportunities then that's probably going to feed into peace and stability too. Similarly in your other areas which are not quite as directly connected, health and education, in the long run they're going to contribute to a more stable and better functioning society."
This is a view that runs contrary to some of New Zealand's foreign policy practices of the last decade, where trade was promoted as a form of aid.
The head of Massey University's Institute of Development Studies, Regina Scheyvens, says people's wellbeing can't be measured in dollars.
"Other things that matter to people are about being included in a society, having a sense of purpose, a feeling of purpose. And these are things that already exist in many Oceanic societies in a strong way and sometimes development efforts that only focus on the economic side of development can actually undermine some of the cultural and social values."
These are integral to identity and wellbeing, according to Professor Scheyvens, who adds it's only among the desperately poor where the dollars make a difference.
The deputy secretary Pacific and Development at New Zealand's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade identifies Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands and Timor L'Este as those where aid funding is most needed.
Jonathan Kings says US$124-million of the additional US$488-million in aid will be dedicated to a strategic development investment fund for the big issues of the region, and cites a climate change resilience land reclamation project in Kiribati.
"But as well as that we re-orienting the aid programme to reflect this government's priorities and some of the resources will go to address the challenges that this government has identified that they want to see addressed in the Pacific. For example health and education. For example gender issues, women's empowerment issues."
Mr Kings says Melanesia and parts of Micronesia will see an increased focus and mooted working with the UN to manage aid projects.
A Pacific commentator, Toleafoa Alfred Schuster, challenges this, saying funds should be managed where Pacific governments have the largest ownership and influence.
"Organisations that are part of the CROP family, or the Council of Regional Organisations of the Pacific, because the majority of Pacific governments sit on its governing council and make decisions about priorities and resource allocation. So if New Zealand is seeking a genuine partnership it must invest in channelling its resources where the decision making and the allocation of resources are governed by the influence of Pacific countries."
Toleafoa, a former Pacific Islands Forum development cooperation advisor, makes the point that New Zealand is part of these regional bodies.
He says New Zealand should be helping develop a strong and united Pacific voice to speak on international issues like climate change.
Another concern was voiced by the Green MP Golriz Ghahraman who is a member of the Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Select Committee.
She says New Zealand's trade for aid model moves money out of development aid programmes.
"It's essentially moving that money away from helping, empowering, supporting, capacity building the most vulnerable in those communities to helping and enriching an elite group of people that benefit from international trade. The presumption has always been that that will always benefit everyone in the community. That's never been certain, it's never been certain that it even does things like create new jobs."
She says the regional trade deal PACER Plus will effectively reduce aid spend by 20 percent.
Last year, New Zealand spent 0.23 percent of its Gross National Income on overseas development assistance. The Labour party wants to more than double it to 0.7 percent.
The Foreign Ministry's Jonathan Kings points out that an over-arching piece of work is being done on a new development assistance strategy and says announcements will be made in the coming months.
This is Dominic Godfrey.
