Some musician blasts PM over aid budget

IRISH rock star Bono has praised John Howard’s management of the domestic economy, but accused him of taking Australia to the bottom of the global league in engagement with the world’s poor.

“What kind of Australia do you want to live in? You’ve got this incredible prosperity – I’ve been coming here for 20 years and I’m in awe of what you have done,” Bono said. But John Howard “has also led your country to the bottom of the league table in terms of engagement with the world’s poor, and I don’t think that’s an Australia people want to live in.”

I guess the Irish musician’s point is we are not allocating foreign aide as he would like. A long time proponent of reinforcing failure by pooring money into African despot’s bank accounts has him ignoring the good we do manage with foreign aid. I’m quiet happy for our foreign aid to be spent in our neighbourhood. We can’t fix every problem in the world but we can impact on the Pacific and as we do we can insist on aid going to the needy. I’m of the opinion that some of the flack we are currently getting from Pacific island leaders is because we are insisting on accountability. I’m also of the opinion that of we allocate more funds elswhere, to the UN or other agencies, then our ability to see the funds spent where they are most needed is hampered. According to one link I’ve found, Foreign Policy, where rich countries are assessed over seven policy areas; Australia is doing her fair share and is certainly performing better that some of the big players. This Commitment to Development Index (CDI) deems our contribution more valuable that Ireland’s so maybe the Irish musician might like to address problems closer to home before he takes us to task. Stick to singing Bozo Bono. UPDATE:  Further reading of the Weekend Australian reveals a review by Patricia Anderson of a book titled “The Triumph of the airheads and the Retreat of Common Sense” by Shelley Gare.  Contained within the review is this observation;

Gare scorns a pheonomenon that, anthropologically speaking, is quiet recent.  This the movie star, a physically appealing individual whose job it is to pretend to be someone else. This has given rise to a certain omnipotence among some who confuse themselves with their parts.  Thus we have to endure stars who think they are poets or intellectuals giving us their views on politics, ethics and religion across obscene page space given by the editors.

I would include musicians in that observation.