Last year, the world saw the largest cut to international aid in history, with global aid funding shrinking by over 23%. This trend has only continued in 2026.
It began over a year ago, when the Trump administration dismantled USAID, followed by wealthy nations such as France, Germany, and the UK, which have since announced increased defence and military spending.
We welcome the Australian Government’s commitment to protect the aid program amid these global cuts, including its increased investment in the Indo-Pacific. Yet in Australia, aid now makes up just 0.63% of the federal budget—an all-time low.
With global aid cuts deepening, communities affected by war and conflict are suffering most. On the Thai-Myanmar border, deliveries of health and support to Burmese refugees have been severely reduced. In Somalia, ongoing conflicts in the Middle East are exacerbating an already dire situation, with the cost of trucking water to drought-stricken areas soaring as fuel prices rise. International aid agencies have warned that millions lack access to basic, life-saving services and urgently need sustained global support.
When governments attack aid and development, it’s often been union movement solidarity organisations like us that are hit first. This has certainly been the case for our sister organisations in Europe and the US, who have faced devastating cuts. At Union Aid Abroad–APHEDA, we have always understood this risk, but also know that worker-to-worker solidarity cannot be cut, regardless of who is in power. It’s for this exact reason that we are an organisation built on membership—just like unions-and also why in recent weeks, we have been asking you to join or upgrade your membership. It’s one of our key strategies to protect our solidarity projects overseas.
We’re stronger when we’re part of a collective, which is why we work in partnership. Solidarity is bigger than aid or charity; it is a strategy for working people to develop inclusive, strong, independent, and democratic organisations that drive inclusive development:
- Unions organise workers to collectively bargain to achieve job security and decent wages, which raise living standards and grow the economy by expanding domestic markets
- Unions organise marginalised workers, including women, youth, and migrant workers, to address inequality
- Unions defend and promote the health of workers and their communities
- Unions fight for social security, public services, education, transport, and health, along with affordable food, water, energy, fuel, and housing—not just for workers, but for the urban and rural poor
- Unions support workplace, social, legal, and political equality and democracy
- Unions lead broader democratic and social struggles and can defend essential government programs like aid and development.
If we do this all successfully, solidarity-based aid and development can form a feedback loop that helps build a safer, better world. We are firm believers that, through movement building, we can create a safer, democratic future for all. That is the kind of power we hold when we organise and build networks across borders.
Thank you for being members of Union Aid Abroad-APHEDA. You are truly part of a movement that builds in calmer times and resists in harder days. You are part of the global justice organisation of the Australian trade union movement.