Responding to the 2017 Federal Budget, Oxfam Australia chief executive Dr Helen Szoke said: “At a time when Australia’s First Peoples live 10–17 fewer years than other Australians, and babies born to Aboriginal mothers die at more than twice the national rate, this Budget really needed to act on the dire state of Indigenous health. […]
After desperately gouging the aid budget to bring it to its lowest ever level in previous years, the Government has dealt aid another blow by reneging on its promise to keep spending in line with inflation, Oxfam Australia said tonight. “The Government has refused to lift aid funding out of historically low levels, while at […]
Responding to reports that the Prime Minister is today planning to further gouge the Australian aid budget by more than $450 million, Oxfam Australia Chief Executive Dr Helen Szoke said: “The Government must not desperately dip into Australia’s already depleted aid budget. “At a time when the world faces multiple humanitarian crises, and after already […]
Rains in South Sudan will soon make relief efforts impossible, putting at risk the lives of millions of people, Oxfam Australia warned today. Oxfam Australia Chief Executive Dr Helen Szoke, currently in South Sudan, said that it had been a race against time to save lives since famine was declared in two areas of the […]
Responding to today’s announcement that a Labor Government would tighten loopholes exploited by multinational companies to avoid paying tax, Oxfam Australia’s tax policy advisor Joy Kyriacou said: “Tightening a range of tax loopholes would be a very welcome move. “Today’s policy announcement by Federal Labor would see loopholes closed across a range of important areas, including […]
Oxfam Australia welcomed today’s announcement by the Australian Government of $10 million in funds to deliver life-saving assistance to people in poverty facing starvation and conflict in Yemen. The announcement by Foreign Minister Julie Bishop is the first direct funding that Australia has provided to the Yemen crisis since the escalation of conflict in March […]
Commenting on the fourth anniversary of the tragic Rana Plaza factory collapse that killed more than 1100 people in Bangladesh, Oxfam Australia inequality policy advisor Joy Kyriacou said: “Four years after the tragic Rana Plaza factory collapse that prompted an international outcry, there is still a long way to go to ensure the people who […]
Tom Robinson, Oxfam’s emergency team lead in Iraq, is available for interviews from Erbil. He is part of a team who are rehabilitating a water plant to bring drinking water to the residents still living in western Mosul. Over 320,000 people have fled Mosul and surrounding areas since the offensive began on the 17 October. […]
The failure of successive governments to listen to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples is condemning too many Indigenous Australians to stark inequality and entrenched disadvantage, according to an Oxfam report published today. Oxfam Australia Chief Executive Dr Helen Szoke said the report found funding for Indigenous services was inadequate, misdirected, uncertain and lacking in […]
Responding to reports that Australia has once again fallen in the global aid rankings released annually by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), Oxfam Australia Chief Executive Dr Helen Szoke said: “The Australian Government’s funding cuts have seen aid fall to its lowest levels in our country’s history in relation to our economy. […]