Aid

Aid remains an important source of foreign finance for many countries. The CDI takes account of both aid quantity through their share of national income given as ODA; and of aid quality through their scores in the Quality of Official Development Assistance – QuODA exercise.

Australia’s aid performance

• Rank: 15

Strengths

• Providing timely and comparative information about aid spending
• Membership in the International Aid Transparency Initiative
• Strong commitment to evaluation and learning
• Small share of tied aid

Weaknesses

• Small share of aid to poor countries
• Low aid volume as a share of the economy

Trade

International trade has been a force for economic development for centuries. The CDI measures trade barriers in rich countries against exports from developing countries. It also penalizes costly importation processes and restrictions against purchasing services from foreigners.

Australia’s trade performance

• Rank: 2

Strengths

• Low tariffs on agricultural products
• No tariffs on rice, wheat, beef, and sugar
• Low tariffs on selected meats
• Low tariffs on dairy
• Low limitations on the importation of services

• High tariffs on apparel
• High tariffs on textiles
• Many days to import a shipping container 

Finance

Rich-country investment in poorer countries can promote economic growth, help spread technologies, skills, and create jobs. Conversely, policies that permit secrecy can facilitate illicit activities and financial flows abroad. The CDI rewards policies that support healthy investment in developing countries and promote transparency in financial transactions at home as well as globally.

Australia’s finance performance

• Rank: 11

Strengths

• Political risk insurance agency provides wide coverage and screens potential projects for violations of human, labor and environmental rights
• Active participation and leadership in extractive industries transparency initiatives such as the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) and the Kimberley Process on blood diamonds
• Vigorous prosecution of home-country bribe payers
• Scores average in the Financial Secrecy Index for regulations in place to promote transparent financial transactions within its jurisdiction 

Migration

Allowing people to move from poor to rich countries provides unskilled immigrants with jobs, income and knowledge. It also increases the flow of money migrants send home abroad and the transfer of skills when the migrants return. The CDI also rewards countries for enabling students from developing countries to study at their universities, and for sharing the burden of refugees and asylum seekers.

Australia’s migration performance

• Rank: 5

Strengths

• Large share of foreign students from developing countries
• Large number of immigrants from developing countries entering Australia

Weaknesses

• Bears small share of the burden of refugees during humanitarian crises

Environment

Rich countries use a disproportionate amount of scarce resources while poor countries are most vulnerable to global warming and ecological deterioration. The CDI measures the impact of policies on the global climate, fisheries, and biodiversity, all of which affect the lives of those far beyond one country’s borders.

Australia’s environment performance

• Rank: 26

Strengths

• No fishing subsidies
• GDP growth exceeded growth in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions over the past decade

Weaknesses

• High greenhouse gas emissions rate per capita
• Low gas taxes
• High tropical timber imports
• Poor compliance with mandatory reporting requirements under multilateral environmental agreements relating to biodiversity 

Security

Since security is a prerequisite for development, the CDI rewards contributions to internationally sanctioned peacekeeping operations and forcible humanitarian interventions, military protection of global sea lanes, and participation in international security treaties. It penalizes arms exports to poor and undemocratic governments.

Australia’s security performance

• Rank: 8

Strengths

• Significant personnel contributions to internationally-sanctioned peacekeeping and humanitarian interventions over last decade
• Participates in major international security treaties and regimes

Weaknesses

• Fails to report arms exports

Technology

Rich countries contribute to development through the creation and dissemination of new technologies. The CDI accounts for this by rewarding government support for research and development (R&D) and penalizing strong intellectual property rights regimes that limit the dissemination of new technologies to poor countries.

Australia’s technology performance

• Rank: 17

Strengths

• Restricts copyrighting of databases
• Revokes unused patents
• Will force patent holders to license to meet social needs
• Provides patent exceptions for research purposes

Weaknesses

• Low government expenditure on R&D
• Allows patents on plant and animal varieties
• Allows patents on software innovations
• Imposes strict limitations on anti-circumvention technologies that can defeat encryption of copyrighted digital materials