Behind the Sacking of AusAID

Tony Abbott's Suppository of All Wisdom, Greg (Jerusalem Prize) Sheridan, is a happy man at last:

"The Abbott government is determined to reform Australia's overseas aid program - and it is in urgent need of reform. The move to scrap AusAID as an independent statutory agency and to make it part of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade is a huge and welcome step on the road... The government intends to keep the focus on sorting out waste and poor priorities in aid. Partly to this end, Teresa Gambaro... will be the chair of the parliamentary committee on foreign affairs, defence and trade. Ms Gambaro was a tough-minded critic of the aid program when she was parliamentary secretary..." (AusAID shake-up good for diplomacy, The Australian, 19/9/13)

And you can see why when you recall last year's frustration with these AusAID vipers:

"Australian taxpayers should not be forced to fund organisations with links to terrorists. This is the case with aid to at least one Palestinian group. It's not against the law, but it's wrong. It's morally and politically objectionable. It ought to stop. The Australian government aid agency, AusAID, gives millions of dollars, through the private charity World Vision, to the Union of Agricultural Work Committees, which works in the Gaza Strip. The problem is the UAWC and its personnel have deep links with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. The PFLP is a proscribed terrorist organisation under the relevant UN list, Australian legislation and the legislation of numerous other countries. It is one of the central progenitors of modern terrorism." (Don't give aid to groups with terrorist connections, Greg Sheridan, The Australian, 3/5/12)

After all, hadn't these reptiles been exposed by none other than Andrew>Akiva Hamilton's doughty crusaders for human rights, Shurat HaDin?

"[A] group of Israeli lawyers, Shurat HaDin sent a complaint to AusAID and World Vision charging that these bodies would be in breach of the law because support for UAWC could be construed as indirect support for a terrorist organisation." (ibid)

A point not lost on then opposition development assistance spokeswoman Ms Gambaro (rambammed 2006/2012):

"It would appear that AusAID is providing funds to World Vision to fund an organisation that has links to a terrorist organisation." (ibid)

For the full story, read my 6/5/12 post Greg Sheridan On His Hind Legs.

PS: "Then there are the millions of dollars Australian taxpayers have generously stumped up for the Palestinian Union of Agricultural Works Committees. A number of the board members and office-holders of this group are intimately associated with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, one of the key progenitors of terrorism against Western targets, pioneering especially attacks on passenger aeroplanes." (Rational approach to aid long overdue, Greg Sheridan, The Australian, 21/9/13)

Now compare that dogmatic, guilty-as-charged assertion with last year's more measured approach:

"[A] group of Israeli lawyers, Shurat HaDin sent a complaint to AusAID and World Vision charging that these bodies would be in breach of the law because support for UAWC could be construed as indirect support for a terrorist organisation. I think that overstates the legal case but I think the moral and political case against funding the UAWC is overwhelming. In the Palestinian territories, it can be difficult to work effectively on the ground and not rub shoulders with people who have terrorist connections." (Don't give aid to groups with terrorist connections, Greg Sheridan, The Australian, 3/5/12)