The government's confirmation of funding for key election commitments is warmly welcomed, but significantly more needs to be done to support children in Australia and globally from the threats of compounding crises, said Save the Children.
The charity recognises that this 2022-2023 federal budget has confirmed many of the government's significant election commitments both domestically and abroad.
"The investment of over $1 billion in additional spending in the Pacific and Southeast Asia is a significant and positive step that shows Labor is serious about restoring Australia's role as a trusted development partner in the region, and will help support the significant needs of children who currently face multiple ongoing crises," said Save the Children CEO Mat Tinkler.
"We know Australia has incredible capacity to support much needed social infrastructure systems in the Pacific and South-East Asia to better the lives of children in the region, especially given our relationship and proximity."
However, Australia's leading child rights agency has long called for a significant increase in humanitarian funding, and the budget critically misses an opportunity to support a meaningful increase in addressing the growing need driven by COVID, conflict and the climate crisis.
"Despite a devastating increase in the number and severity of crises, Australia in this budget, has not met its "fair share" of humanitarian funding."
Global Hunger Crisis:
Globally, almost 50 million people are living in emergency or catastrophic levels of acute hunger, with at least 13.6 million children under 5 suffering from severe acute malnutrition. 1 in 5 deaths among children under the age of 5 is attributed to severe acute malnutrition.
Save the Children is part of the sector's Help Fight Famine campaign and is calling on the government to urgently commit $150 million in new humanitarian funding to target hunger hotspots. The sector is also calling for $200 million to be committed annually over three years to help address global hunger, including through contributing to the development of a long-term strategy to address the root causes of food insecurity worldwide.
"50 million people in 45 countries are teetering on the edge of famine, and tens of thousands of children could starve to death, while many more will suffer irreversible, life-long damage due to malnutrition."
"This budget is a missed opportunity for Australia to step up and help avert this unfolding catastrophe, and time is running out."
