The Federal Government is preparing to "refresh" the strategy behind the nation's aid budget, but the amount spent won’t be increased.
The nation will spend about $4 billion on foreign aid this financial year and there are no immediate plans to increase this amount.
But Minister for International Development Alex Hawke is flagging a review into which countries receive aid, how much they get and the programs being funded.
"I think we've already started the conversation about our aid program: the objectives that it has, the strategy behind it, the plans beneath it and the need to refresh," he told the Good Will Hunters podcast
The $4.2 billion foreign aid budget represents about 0.2 per cent of gross national income.
“We are not revisiting that envelope - we are going to look at how to spend that better within the envelope," Mr Hawke said.
The last comprehensive review of Australia’s foreign aid program was released in 2013.
Mr Hawke said the foreign aid review would take into account how the world has been rapidly changing since then.
"Obviously things have changed a lot in the last six years and the government is very aware of that," he said.
"We can revisit what we have been doing in our different country plans and think a little bit about what more can be done."
Australia increased aid to the Pacific to a record $1.4 billion in 2019-20 amid Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s "step up" in the region.
This accounted for around 35 per cent of Australia’s total foreign aid, according to the Lowy Institute.
Mr Hawke said the increased investment was about placing a greater focus on Australia's nearest neighbours.
“What it means is more emphasis on the region – and I think we are going to see that increase overtime that proportion of our aid budget," he said.
Australia commits $1 billion in aid to Southeast East Asia, South and West Asia receive $266.2 million and the Middle East and Africa get $199.8 million.
Within this budget, a rapidly growing country such as Indonesia received $255.7 million in aid despite being in the top 20 economies in the world.
Greens Senator Mehreen Faruqi accused the Federal government of overseeing an "irresponsibly low" aid budget calling for this to be raised to meet UN targets for 0.7 per cent of gross national income.
“The Government must take this review as an opportunity to reset their approach to foreign aid to one that puts social, economic and climate justice at the heart of all our aid programs," she said.
“Aid should never be used purely as a tool to further national interest."
The Australian Council for International Development is among those in the sector that has called for a review of the aid program and for more to be invested in NGOs to extend the reach of Australia's aid program.
Mr Hawke said more regular assessment of the nation's aid program could also be conducted in future.
“Our government’s going to have a discourse with the sector about how we can spend better and how we can do better with our aid budget."
