Hon Christopher Finlayson

Dr KENNEDY GRAHAM (Green) to the Minister of Foreign Affairs: Does he accept the judgment of the report card released on 16 October 2009 by ActionAid that ranks New Zealand last out of 22 donor countries for the quality of its aid programme for hunger relief and sustainable agriculture; and what does he propose to do to improve New Zealand’s performance?

Hon CHRISTOPHER FINLAYSON (Attorney-General) on behalf of the Minister of Foreign Affairs: No.

Dr Kennedy Graham: Does he intend to set a date for New Zealand to reach the aid target of 0.7 percent GNI to show that his Government will improve on our current miserly and inept performance—to paraphrase Kipling: last, loneliest, ugliest?

Hon CHRISTOPHER FINLAYSON: Those figures are always under review, but the fact of the matter remains that the report that the member refers to is flawed in a number of respects.

Dr Kennedy Graham: Is he concerned, given the flaws in the report, that the emphasis of his Government in his aid policy on economic growth will undermine the goals of poverty and hunger alleviation in the Pacific Islands countries specifically, given New Zealand’s ranking of last for sustainable agriculture, second-to-last for social protection, and last for climate change?

Hon CHRISTOPHER FINLAYSON: No.

Phil Twyford: How will the Government’s policy to re-orient New Zealand’s aid to private sector development help reduce the rate at which women in Papua New Guinea die in childbirth, which is 23 times higher than the rate in New Zealand, given that the ActionAid report rates New Zealand as the lowest in the OECD on aid to social protection?

Hon CHRISTOPHER FINLAYSON: Unlike the Labour member, we do not believe that bureaucracy can be equated with aid.

Dr Kennedy Graham: I seek leave to table the report of ActionAid, which points out New Zealand’s miserable performance, so that the Government can explain in greater detail the flaws--

Mr SPEAKER: The member should just seek leave to table the document and describe the document, not comment on it further. Leave is sought to table that document. Is there any objection? There is no objection.

• Document, by leave, laid on the Table of the House.