Aid package of $20m a year tipped

The Government will today announce the biggest international aid package New Zealand has ever pledged.

The package for countries devastated by the Asian tsunami will be signed off at the first Cabinet meeting of the year today.

There has been speculation that the figure could be as high as $20 million a year for up to five years. This amount has been dismissed as a guess by the Government, which was yesterday staying quiet about the details of the package.

The Government is currently giving $10 million in aid.

National Party leader Don Brash criticised the sum, saying it was inadequate when compared with Australia's donation of A$1 billion ($1.086 billion).*

Dr Brash said Australia's aid was equivalent to $57 a person, while New Zealand's contribution was only $2.45 a person. Tsunami disaster relief agencies say the present dollar-to-dollar matching subsidy must be made available on a long-term basis if they are to carry on with the next phase of relief work.

That will see resettlement and rehabilitation in the devastated areas of Asia.

The Government will discuss an increased aid package during today's Cabinet meeting.

Some 25 agencies, both big and small, seek the matching of public donations raised in New Zealand and say the appeal response is the biggest they have experienced.

But World Vision executive director Helen Green said a long-term commitment for matching the public giving was essential.

It would recognise the professionalism of New Zealand's non-government organisations working in disaster-struck countries and ensure aid money was not wasted by corruption.

World Vision's appeal had by yesterday reached $3 million. New Zealand Red Cross has received $6.5 million from public donations and officials said fundraising had to continue.

"We are responding to an emergency situation and then we will need support for the recovery," a spokeswoman said.

Adventist Development & Aid Agency director Alan Fletcher has returned after spending a fortnight helping to get aid moved from airbases into the stricken Banda Aceh area of the Indonesian island of Sumatra.

He said the need for medical aid was diminishing but now his agency was working through Unicef to rebuild primary schools.

"We could oversee rebuilding of 50 schools and it could take two to three years."

* CORRECTION: In the original version of this report, Australia's contribution was incorrectly reported as A$100 billion.