Aid agencies must remind the public of their good work if they want to have any chance of restoring government funding, Labor says.
Foreign affairs spokeswoman Tanya Plibersek will tell a foreign aid conference on Thursday that while the Make Poverty History campaign had been successful in garnering public support for government spending, consensus must constantly be rebuilt.
"No victory is final, no cause is ever over and public support for any policy can never be assumed," Ms Plibersek will tell the conference at the Australian National University in Canberra.
She has been critical of the Abbott government slashing foreign aid - a cut in each budget and financial update since the 2013 election.
Ms Plibersek will tell the conference debate about foreign that aid has fallen into "old caricatures about waste and bureaucracy", so the connection between aid spending and doing good has faded from people's minds.
"It is, I know, a tiring task to make and make again the argument for something which we know to be good policy," she says.
"But to turn away from that responsibility is to accept a narrower, cramped Australia."
Foreign Minister Julie Bishop released the inaugural report on the performance of Australia's aid program on Wednesday.
She says it shows the program is performing efficiently and contributing effectively to the goals of promoting economic growth and reducing poverty in the region.
Share
