MEDIA RELEASE
Released By:
Downer
I am pleased to announce the establishment of an Aid
Advisory Council which will provide me with independent views on Australia's aid
program.
The establishment of the Aid Advisory Council
responds to a recommendation of the Report of the Committee of Review of the
Australian Overseas Aid Program, headed by Mr Paul Simons AM.
I have decided to appoint eleven members to the Aid
Advisory Council to ensure our aid program reflects the values of the Australian
community. Members have been appointed for a term of three years. I will chair
the Aid Advisory Council while my Parliamentary Secretary, Mrs Kathy Sullivan,
is the deputy chairperson.
I am delighted that eleven prominent Australians from
academia, business, religious organisations and community groups have accepted
my invitation to join the Council. (List of members is attached).
I am confident they will all make a valuable
contribution to shaping future directions of the aid program and ensuring that
our assistance retains a strong Australian identity.
The Aid Advisory Council will meet twice yearly. It
will support the principle of an outward looking aid program that is open to new
ideas and approaches and draws on the best ideas in Australia and overseas.
The first meeting is expected to be held at
Parliament House in Canberra later this month. The Director General of AusAID,
Mr Trevor Kanaley, will also attend the meetings along with a senior
representative from the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.
Aid Advisory Council: List of Members
- Mr Jim Carlton, Secretary General of the
Australian Red Cross. - Ms Margaret Conley, Chief Executive Officer of the
Australian Expert Overseas Service Program. - Professor Ron Duncan, Professor of Economics and
Executive Director of the National Centre for Development Studies, Australian
National University. - Archbishop Ian George AM, Archbishop of Adelaide.
- Ms Jill Lester, Head of Group Corporate Relations,
Commonwealth Bank. - Dr Ian Lin, Managing Director of Quo Vadis
Consulting Group and former President of the Council of the Research Institute
for Asia and the Pacific. - Professor Peter Lloyd, Professor of Economics and
Director of the Asia Research Centre, University of Melbourne. - Ms Gaye Phillips, Chief Executive of UNICEF
Australia. - Professor Richard Robison, Professor of Asian and
International Politics, and Director of the Asia Research Centre, Murdoch
University. - Mr Charles Tapp, Chief Executive of CARE
Australia. - Professor Cliff Walsh, Executive Director of the
South Australian Centre for Economic Studies.
Media contacts:
Innes Willox (Minister's office) 02 6277 7500 / 0411 414 695
Carol Haffke (AusAID) 02 6206 4966/0417 683 767