Floods in Oz

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GuDyTfvjiX0

[carelesschucca]

Originally Posted by Ed

E Scrooge Esquire, you have missed the point. If you had the choice of helping a friend or a stranger, who would you prioritise?

You can hardly Call Pakistan a stranger. It might be a total f*ck up of a country but its a Country that WE created. Its like an bl00dy teenager you may well have created it but you don't really understand it, but its still family.

As for Australia I feel so sorry for them there's more bad weather about to hit them.

I am 3 days back from a trip to Oz. I was in Queensland, although thankfully managed to avoid the areas affected by the flood. I don't profess to understand much about Australian politics, but I was talking with friends there who did. In answer to Ed's original question, the reason we didn't help them is that they didn't want it. Aid is seldom a case of: Here you go, here's 5 billion, go buy yourself something nice. It always comes at a price, usually in the form of needing to be paid back down the line, or expectations to toe the line in the same direction the donor votes at conferences, etc.

Look at how resistant Ireland were to foreign aid as part of their recent bailout.

Australias economy is doing incredibly well against a backdrop of a world recession. They are very keen not to mess this up. The floods alone have weakened the AUD, taking outside aid would exacerbate this. They are talking about levvying an emergency tax to fund repairs and relief work, rather than accept outside aid.

It is a case of Oz refusing out aid; not a lack of it being offered. I do not think you should read anything into a failing on the UK's part for them not taking our aid...

Originally Posted by flymo

good luck Matt, I hope you and your family are safe. My mum is further down the coast so not expecting too much bother there. Just to put it into perspective, the Queensland coast is many many times longer than the entire UK.

Thanks, but I am well away from the worst of it. I don't expect any damage from wind with everything built to cyclone standards and the flooding is an annual event for which we are well prepared.

poor aussies, hope everyone stays safe out there, its the last thing those guys need

Warm thoughts for you all.