It's more expensive to ignore poverty

This article was published in The Australian 22 September 2010

Kevin Rudd has a chance to show true leadership to the world.

Tomorrow, Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd is representing Australia at a UN summit in New York to review progress on the Millennium Development Goals for halving extreme poverty and hunger by 2015.

For the first time since being ousted as prime minister, Rudd will rub shoulders with the likes of US President Barack Obama, French President Nicolas Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

The summit will provide him with an opportunity to demonstrate true leadership to the world.

Despite being a nation of generous individuals, Australia's record on foreign aid leaves much to be desired. We languish towards the bottom of the league table for the amount of foreign aid we provide as a percentage of our gross national income.