Oxfam Australia welcomed the Australian Government’s announcement today of $20 million for food, medical assistance, shelter and protection to people in need inside Syria, as well as refugees and their host communities in Lebanon, but called on it to increase the amount to what is Australia’s fair share – $149 million. Today’s announcement by the […]
Westpac Bank’s decision to end remittances to Somalia could see vulnerable Somalis struggle even more to access basic necessities like food, water and shelter, according to Oxfam. Westpac has confirmed that all banking services to remittance companies will close on 31 March, citing increasing risk concerns and tightening interpretation of international and domestic regulations. Westpac is the only major Australian […]
Australians continue to find innovative ways to raise donations to help the people of Vanuatu recover from the devastation of Cyclone Pam but one fundraising effort is currently creating a real buzz. Inventors of crowdfunding success story Flow™ Hive, are raffling off the very first of their revolutionary new beehives to come off the production […]
Oxfam will urge the Abbott Government’s special emissions taskforce to agree an emissions target that will help reduce the impact of climate change on the world’s poorest people, who are already bearing the brunt of greater droughts, floods, hunger and disease. The Prime Minister’s taskforce will begin asking for advice this week on how far […]
Oxfam Australia is one of 26 organisations that have written to Prime Minister Tony Abbott, Treasurer Joe Hockey, Attorney-General George Brandis and Indigenous Affairs Minister Nigel Scullion, urging them to reverse the proposed funding cuts to legal assistance services under the Attorney General’s portfolio. These services include Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Legal Services (ATSILS), its […]
Today’s launch by Julie Bishop of an innovation focus for the Australian Aid program has been undermined by leaks suggesting more cuts to the aid budget. Oxfam Public Engagement Director Pam Anders said innovation was indeed vital to overcome the challenges that stood in the way of a fairer, more prosperous and more secure region […]
More than 150,000 Australians will declare their support today for ending health inequality between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander and other Australians, with a record number of schools, community groups, health services, businesses and government offices hosting over 1,548 events around the country to mark National Close the Gap Day. Locations for National Close the […]
Despite an impassioned plea from the President of Vanuatu at the Disaster Risk Reduction world conference in Japan earlier this week, international governments last night adopted a framework that is not up to the task of dealing with the increasing risk of disasters to the world’s poor. Among the agreement’s shortcomings is the failure to agree concrete […]
Aid should today begin to reach the hard hit southern Vanuatu islands of Tanna and Erromango, which both took the full force of the 250kmh Cyclone Pam, after rapid assessments of the islands showed absolute devastation with entire villages destroyed. The rapid assessments of Vanuatu’s outer islands carried out yesterday reported that many villages on […]
Two rapid assessment teams have arrived in the two small southern Vanuatu islands hit hardest by Cyclone Pam to rapidly assess exactly what survivors of the disaster need. Oxfam Country Director in Port Vila, Colin Collett van Rooyen, said one team was now in Tanna and another team was in Erromango with both due back to Port […]