PALMERSTON NORTH Bishop Peter Cullinane of Palmerston North has taken Foreign Affairs Minister Murray McCully to task over comments about changes to New Zealands overseas aid policy. In a letter to The Dominion Post on May 12, the bishop slammed the ministers remarks about a new emphasis and structure for NZAid as intemperate and insulting to those of us involved with trying to alleviate poverty.
On May 1, the minister announced NZAids mandate would shift from an emphasis on poverty alleviation to sustainable economic development. He called poverty alleviation a nebulous concept and too lazy and incoherent a guide for allocating aid dollars.
But Bishop Cullinane wrote there was nothing nebulous about poverty alleviation for those who are starving. For such people, economic development will always be too late, he wrote.
Bishop Cullinane said it was regrettable the minister was indulging in caricature, making references to self-interested individuals within the aid community, superior intellects, and to the aid budget as some kind of sacred cow.
The bishop acknowledged the place of economic development, accountability, effectiveness and efficiency in programmes.
