Australia announces $1bn aid package for Tsunami victims

Joe · Post by **Joe** » 2005-01-05 04:08pm

No link (I won't register) but it's been posted on The Age website.

Good for them, I say. I'm pretty sure this easily makes Australia the world leader thus far.

SirNitram · Post by **SirNitram** » 2005-01-05 04:10pm

Holy Bobberts on a stick! Good on yer, Aussies!

Dahak · Post by **Dahak** » 2005-01-05 04:23pm

Germany has pledged 500 million Euros today, just hours before Australia raised its donation.
This "who donates the most" really has a slightly bad taste to it...

Admiral_K · Post by **Admiral_K** » 2005-01-05 04:25pm

This cock measuring contest will be over pretty quick once the U.S. finally fully unzips its pants

.

Joe · Post by **Joe** » 2005-01-05 04:26pm

I don't think so. If the nations of the world are gonna compete at something, they certainly could do worse than trying to one-up each other on humanitarian aid.

But quite honestly getting people and supplies out there ASAP like the US-led coalition is doing right now is the most important thing, I should think. Vast amounts of money are fine but the more we get done now, the better it will be later.

TheDarkling · Post by **TheDarkling** » 2005-01-05 04:52pm

Admiral_K wrote:This cock measuring contest will be over pretty quick once the U.S. finally fully unzips its pants .

To match the Australian donation in proportion to GDP you will need to pledge around $20 Billion, which is a lot higher that what the world bank estimated was needed (although that estimate ma have been increased since they first published it a few days ago).

Stark · Post by **Stark** » 2005-01-05 05:00pm

Wow; good thing AU doesn't have any of its own problems that could use a pile of money. Oh, wait. Johnny likes buying friends, doesn't he? I'm low on cash, time to crank out some more children.

Post by **weemadando** » 2005-01-05 05:09pm

What sickens me the most is that within the first week of this disaster more money had been contributed by gov'ts and individuals to relief funds and humanitarian appeals than in the entire year before.

Now if only individuals would do this more often, gov'ts too maybe, or do we need to get reporters stumbling around wreckage in other countries and having 2/3s of our nightly news on those topics too?

Fuck the mass-media and fuck the guilt trip inspired donating. Be charitable or don't - but don't be charitable just because Kerry Packer tells you to be.

Uraniun235 · Post by **Uraniun235** » 2005-01-05 06:17pm

weemadando wrote:Be charitable or don't - but don't be charitable just because Kerry Packer tells you to be.

Why not?

Admiral Valdemar · Post by **Admiral Valdemar** » 2005-01-05 08:32pm

weemadando wrote:What sickens me the most is that within the first week of this disaster more money had been contributed by gov'ts and individuals to relief funds and humanitarian appeals than in the entire year before.

Now if only individuals would do this more often, gov'ts too maybe, or do we need to get reporters stumbling around wreckage in other countries and having 2/3s of our nightly news on those topics too?

Fuck the mass-media and fuck the guilt trip inspired donating. Be charitable or don't - but don't be charitable just because Kerry Packer tells you to be.

Humans don't, nor will they ever, follow these perfect rational mindsets we keep thinking of. They will always be hypocritical, easily won over, gullible, arrogant or just plain ignorant. The fact that it took such a huge disaster and mass media coverage and especially that it was at a festive time of year means charity suddenly became hip again.

You can rant all you want, but it won't change jack. This is the way the cookie crumbles, just be thankful that the people are getting aid at least and not being ignored.

Australia, Germany and Japan have certainly raised the bar this past week. I doubt the US and UK will leave it at what they pledged (even if they've also added significant charity sums and military hardware).

Prozac the Robert · Post by **Prozac the Robert** » 2005-01-05 09:25pm

Even north korea is joining in with $150,000. Not chart topping, but its a big chunk of money for a country like that.

Post by **Gandalf** » 2005-01-05 09:41pm

Link.

Apparently it's 1.8 billion over the next five years.

I'm rather curious to see where this money's coming from though.

Montcalm · Post by **Montcalm** » 2005-01-05 09:56pm

Gandalf wrote:Link.

Apparently it's 1.8 billion over the next five years.

I'm rather curious to see where this money's coming from though.

Tax raise coming soon.

Post by **weemadando** » 2005-01-06 01:04am

Admiral Valdemar wrote: Humans don't, nor will they ever, follow these perfect rational mindsets we keep thinking of. They will always be hypocritical, easily won over, gullible, arrogant or just plain ignorant. The fact that it took such a huge disaster and mass media coverage and especially that it was at a festive time of year means charity suddenly became hip again.

You can rant all you want, but it won't change jack. This is the way the cookie crumbles, just be thankful that the people are getting aid at least and not being ignored.

Australia, Germany and Japan have certainly raised the bar this past week. I doubt the US and UK will leave it at what they pledged (even if they've also added significant charity sums and military hardware).

Meanwhile the world chooses to ignore the multitude of equally bad or worse humanitarian problems - because they aren't making prime time news. That is what pisses me off. And people who up until a week ago thought that Sri Lanka was somewhere near the West Indies, who are now somehow experts on geopolitics in the Indian Ocean.

Post by **weemadando** » 2005-01-06 01:05am

Montcalm wrote:
Gandalf wrote:Link.

Apparently it's 1.8 billion over the next five years.

I'm rather curious to see where this money's coming from though.
Tax raise coming soon.

Doubt it, we'll just cut defense spending. Its what we do when we need money.

Howedar · Post by **Howedar** » 2005-01-06 03:01am

Prozac the Robert wrote:Even north korea is joining in with $150,000. Not chart topping, but its a big chunk of money for a country like that.

No shit? Do you have a link on that?

Post by **Gandalf** » 2005-01-06 03:46am

Howedar wrote:
Prozac the Robert wrote:Even north korea is joining in with $150,000. Not chart topping, but its a big chunk of money for a country like that.
No shit? Do you have a link on that?

Here.

Lusankya · Post by **Lusankya** » 2005-01-06 06:28am

Montcalm wrote:
Gandalf wrote:Link.

Apparently it's 1.8 billion over the next five years.

I'm rather curious to see where this money's coming from though.
Tax raise coming soon.

We're already about the 3rd highest taxed country in the world. We're behind two countries in Scandanavia as far as taxation goes.

Unfortunately our population's too spread-out for efficient use of the money to be really possible.

Incidentally I knew where Sri Lanka was before the tsunami. It used to be called Ceylon. They play cricket.

Have a very nice day

-Lusankya

Col. Crackpot · Post by **Col. Crackpot** » 2005-01-06 07:20am

Lusankya wrote: Incidentally I knew where Sri Lanka was before the tsunami. It used to be called Ceylon. They play cricket.

Sri Lanka also produces some damn good tea.

Admiral Valdemar · Post by **Admiral Valdemar** » 2005-01-06 08:27am

weemadando wrote: Meanwhile the world chooses to ignore the multitude of equally bad or worse humanitarian problems - because they aren't making prime time news. That is what pisses me off. And people who up until a week ago thought that Sri Lanka was somewhere near the West Indies, who are now somehow experts on geopolitics in the Indian Ocean.

To be fair, Blair is at least keeping track of his commitment to Africa since he's been trying to justify his actions with regards to this tragedy which is natural, while Africa is purely man-made. So at least I can see one gov't official who hasn't forgotten that shit like this happens all the time and always has, no matter how much media attention it gets.

Lusankya · Post by **Lusankya** » 2005-01-06 08:36am

Col. Crackpot wrote:
Lusankya wrote: Incidentally I knew where Sri Lanka was before the tsunami. It used to be called Ceylon. They play cricket.
Sri Lanka also produces some damn good tea.

I thought that went without saying.

And there are a few guys there called Ranatunga.

Mayabird · Post by **Mayabird** » 2005-01-06 09:37am

And they've had a civil war going on for years which, in one of the few good things to come out of the tsunami, has stopped for now. And Arthur C. Clarke lives there (he's alright, everybody). And so on and so forth.

I wonder how much of this money will be going into long-term aid for rebuilding and such.

Stofsk · Post by **Stofsk** » 2005-01-06 09:42am

Mayabird wrote:I wonder how much of this money will be going into long-term aid for rebuilding and such.

You can say that about all aid money.

This news makes me proud to be Australian.

MKSheppard · Post by **MKSheppard** » 2005-01-06 11:40am

weemadando wrote:Meanwhile the world chooses to ignore the multitude of equally bad or worse humanitarian problems - because they aren't making prime time news.

Ando, this is an event that changes the course of history and nations.
100,000 dead and climbing all over the Southeast Asian area, entire
villages wiped out over a wide swath of land, et cetera.

Stofsk · Post by **Stofsk** » 2005-01-06 11:47am

MKSheppard wrote:
weemadando wrote:Meanwhile the world chooses to ignore the multitude of equally bad or worse humanitarian problems - because they aren't making prime time news.
Ando, this is an event that changes the course of history and nations.
100,000 dead and climbing all over the Southeast Asian area, entire
villages wiped out over a wide swath of land, et cetera.

Not to be so presumptuous as to speak for Anders, but I gained the impression when reading his post that he was referring to the AIDS epidemic in Africa, which certainly has the potential to bring about millions of deaths over the coming years. If that isn't an event to change the course of human history, I'm not sure what is.