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141. A feminist approach to Australian Overseas Development Assistance?

Author:
Annabel Dulhunty
Publication Date:
09-2022
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
International Women's Development Agency (IWDA)
Abstract:
Over the past nine years, the Australian aid program has suffered extensive budget cuts, lost significant development expertise within the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) after the integration of AusAID, and seen significant reprioritisation of its objectives due to the emergence of Covid-19. Despite these setbacks, however, gender equality and women’s empowerment seemingly remain important to the aid program. Why then is a feminist foreign policy needed for Australia and its aid program? While DFAT must be commended for increasing funding for gender equality in the past decade, Australia is still below average compared with other Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) donors when it comes to funding for projects which aim to advance gender equality as a principal or significant objective. Also, the 80% target on gender equality is one of the only development targets which consistently has not been met. The Australian aid program largely focuses on ‘gender mainstreaming’ as a cross cutting issue. While important, gender mainstreaming can easily become a ‘tick box’ exercise and get lost within broader program objectives (Cornwall and Rivas, 2015). In 2016 DFAT created an important Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment Strategy which gave greater weight to gender equality in DFAT’s programming. This is a significant achievement. While the strategy outlines three objectives, the main emphasis is given to women’s economic empowerment – whereby investment in women is portrayed as ‘smart economics’. This approach to women’s empowerment focuses on connections with businesses, public private partnerships and women’s access to credit. While these activities have some value and DFAT was arguably constrained by the Coalition government’s priorities at the time, there is scope now, with a change of government, to go beyond neoliberal framings and take a more holistic approach to empowerment. The time is right to create a feminist aid policy which should sit under a broader feminist foreign policy (FFP) approach (informing aid as well as trade, defence and other foreign policy issues).
Topic:
Foreign Policy, Development, Foreign Aid, and Feminism
Political Geography:
Australia

142. “That’s a bridge too far!” The imperative for a feminist lens on infrastructure investment

Author:
Mia Urbano and Beth Elson
Publication Date:
10-2022
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
International Women's Development Agency (IWDA)
Abstract:
International development cooperation is increasingly focused on infrastructure again. However, to achieve economic and social transformation these investments must recognise that infrastructure is not gender neutral. User priorities differ, and infrastructure choices can either bridge or deepen divides. Feminist foreign policy, including a feminist interpretation of the economy, combined with human design principles, provides a framework to foreground the diversity of user patterns and needs and support infrastructure that better serves society.
Topic:
Foreign Policy, Infrastructure, Economy, Feminism, Investment, and Development Assistance
Political Geography:
Australia

143. Temporary Protection Visas in Australia: A reform proposal

Author:
Mary Anne Kenny, Nicholas Procter, and Carol Grech
Publication Date:
06-2022
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Andrew & Renata Kaldor Centre for International Refugee Law at UNSW Sydney
Abstract:
The election of a new government in May 2022 provides an opportune moment to reassess Australia’s approach to refugees and people seeking asylum. The Labor government has signalled that our treatment of refugees and asylum seekers needs to change—to provide people with greater certainty and more durable protection, and to enable the Australian community to benefit more fully from their contribution. One of the most detrimental elements of Australian refugee law and policy in the past decade has been the use of temporary visas. Temporary protection has been the only option available for people who arrived by boat and were recognised as refugees. Known as the ‘legacy caseload’, these people are caught in a system of law and policy that keeps them in a state of perpetual limbo. This is an inhumane, unsustainable, and inefficient system that inflicts mental harm and creates costly, bureaucratic burdens. Providing permanent protection to the 31,000 men, women, and children in this group—many of whom have been recognised by Australia as refugees in need of protection—would provide them with a resolution of their legal status and enable them to move forward with their lives, while also acknowledging the significant contribution this group has already made to the community through work and social engagement. This Policy Brief provides concrete recommendations about how to move refugees on temporary visas to permanent visas—using existing powers under the Migration Act 1958 (Cth) and minor amendments to the Migration Regulations 1994 (Cth)—as well as recommendations for people whose protection claims have not yet been assessed, or have been refused. The 17 recommendations are intended as a package of coherent and inter-related measures, rather than a suite of different options.
Topic:
Reform, Refugees, Asylum Seekers, and Temporary Protection Visas
Political Geography:
Australia