What is Australias agenda?
So has anyone wondered why Australia is investing heavily in climate change in Samoa? I certainly have. At first you want to say it's the guilt of having the highest emmissions in the region, then second I am tempted to say that well Samoa has a pretty big pull in the Pacific and they want our support in a bad way, or perhaps they have some spare change and want to dole it out to keen nations, and then the gullible part of me just wants to see it as well, the Aussies being nice.
But come on, we can be nice to people and not give them $2.3 million dollars right? But here's my concern, yes ok, Aussie has given the money to Samoa to be used, but how the money is used is a whole other question. I asked the Prime Minister about this once, said, 'So you feeling happy that now you have this much money from our friends? ' and he simply answere "Well, when we see this money it would have already been ear marked, tied up and termed to the point where it actually amounts to very little." The PM had a point, Australia Aid comes with so many terms and consultants for that matter, that by the time the actual tala reaches the grassroot level, it has been stripped to the core by fees, regulations, reports and other obligatory payments.
So lets see how this money is spent, and see if it actually makes a difference to the life of anyone in Samoa, chances are, it will make a tremendous difference to the life of an Australian child, whose parent will be luckily enough to recive a six figure Consultancy cheque for spending a year in Samoa compiling a report so that they can write another report, which will go into another report about how to minimise the impacts of climate change in Samoa. All in all, the cheque is like an air balloon, it's attached to a string, full of unknown promises and constantly hovering over you.