Minister for International Development speaks at AusAID, heads to Sols

AusAID uploaded a video to its YouTube channel last week of the newly appointed Minister for International Development, Melissa Parke, addressing staff and speaking on the importance of the aid program. It’s a short video, worth watching—it appears that in Parke the aid program has found itself a strong advocate within the parliament.

Though she didn’t get an invitation to PNG with the Prime Minister, Parke went with Bob Carr to Solomon Islands this week. While it was speculated that the trip was intended to convince the Solomons government to join up to the new regional asylum seeker solution–which would seem a strange task given Parke’s previous outspoken opposition to immigration detention–no announcement was made. Solomons PM Gordon Darcy Lilo said that his country was interested in a deal though. Other announcements were made on avoidable blindness and Australia’s ongoing support for the country post-RAMSI as Lilo and Carr signed an expanded development partnership agreement that was actually already announced earlier this month.

 

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Ashlee Betteridge

Ashlee Betteridge was the Manager of the Development Policy Centre until April 2021. She was previously a Research Officer at the centre from 2013-2017. A former journalist, she holds a Master of Public Policy (Development Policy) from ANU and has development experience in Indonesia and Timor-Leste. She now has her own consultancy, Better Things Consulting, and works across several large projects with managing contractors.

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