NGOS AND POLITICAL CHANGE A HISTORY OF THE AUSTRALIAN COUNCIL FOR INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT NGOS AND POLITICAL CHANGE A HISTORY OF THE AUSTRALIAN COUNCIL FOR INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT PATRICK KILBY Published by ANU Press The Australian National University Acton ACT 2601, Australia Email: [email protected] This title is also available online at http://press.anu.edu.au National Library of Australia Cataloguing-in-Publication entry Creator: Kilby, Patrick, author. Title: NGOs and political change : a history of the Australian Council for International Development / Patrick Kilby. ISBN: 9781925022469 (paperback) 9781925022476 (ebook) Subjects: Australian Council for International Development--History. Non-governmental organizations--Australia--History. Non-governmental organizations--Australia--Political aspects. Dewey Number: 361.76 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher. Cover design and layout by ANU Press Printed by Griffin Press This edition © 2015 ANU Press Contents List of Figures . vii Preface . ix Acknowledgements . xi Naming conventions . xiii Glossary . xv 1 . A Greek Chorus . 1 2 . The Origins and Establishment of the Australian Council for International Development . 25 3 . From Global Education to Campaigning . .. 47 4 . From Women in Development to Gender Justice? . 69 5 . Emergency Responses and Humanitarianism. .. 89 6 . Human Rights . 113 7 . Engaging with Government . 129 8 . Dealing with Changing Government Priorities . 147 9 . From a Code of Ethics to a Code of Conduct . 165 10 . The Australian Council for International Development in the Twenty‑First Century: Challenges and Opportunities . 183 References. 203 Index . 281 List of Figures Figure 1 Australian NGO aid levels and as a percentage of GDP 1968–2014 . 3 Figure 2 Mick Sullivan meets Pope Paul VI who blesses ACFOA (Mnsgr Coveney translates) . 11 Figure 3 The founding office bearers of ACFID . 40 Figure 4 Paul Poernomo is helped into Parliament House by other fasters . 51 Figure 5 ACFID stalwarts Russell Rollason and John Mavor eat pet food as part of a Right to Eat campaign in 1974 . .. 61 Figure 6 Janet Hunt Launches Development Dossier on Disarmament and Development 1987 . .. 63 Figure 7 Susan Harris Rimmer Speaking for ACFID at Rally for Peace held in Canberra 2001 . 64 Figure 8 Janet Hunt and a Pacific women’s delegation at Beijing . 85 Figure 9 Christine Vincent from IDEC and Christine Brown from ACC reporting on relief to Cambodia . .. 99 Figure 10 Bob Geldof and Midge Ure arrive to record ‘Do they know it’s Christmas’, November 1984 . 102 Figure 11 Oz for Africa Hercules being handed over . 104 Figure 12 Cartons of emergency supplies piled high, with RAAF aeroplane in background, during the relief operation to assist Aceh, Indonesia .. 110 Figure 13 José Ramos‑Horta, leader of the East Timorese Independence movement, speaking at ACFID, May 1984 . 121 Figure 14 Make Poverty History Campaigners 2006 . 193 Figure 15 Young Australians from every federal electorate across for Make Poverty History Australia, March 2013 . 198 vii ‘… what’s past is prologue, what to come. In yours and my discharge.’ (William Shakespeare, The Tempest, act 2, scene 1, line 244) Preface Writing a book about the 50 years of the Australian Council for International Development (ACFID) is not without its challenges. The main one is what to include and what to leave out; what themes to emphasise and what to downplay or even ignore. The readers of this book who know ACFID will no doubt suggest I overplayed or overdramatised some things at the expense of talking about some of the other good work ACFID has done. Sometimes people are too close to the action, and sometimes memory is all too faulty. In the end, this book is ACFID’s story as I have experienced it, as an insider through the 1980s, 1990s and 2010s on many of its committees. ACFID’s story is also told through the memories of the people involved, to whom I am very grateful, and ACFID’s records of the time, now held in the National Library of Australia. The caveat, of course, is that the inclusions and exclusions are mine alone. The 10 chapters of this book pick up what I regard as the key themes that built ACFID but also challenged it: its relationship with government, global education, its work with emergencies, human rights, the Code of Ethics/Code of Conduct, and gender and development. Some of these themes were a product of their time, such as global education, and were successful for a period; some ACFID probably should not have undertaken, such as disaster work, and others, like gender and development, ACFID has struggled with throughout its life. ix Acknowledgements Writing this book has been on my mind for a long time. The idea of a 50th anniversary book probably first occurred to me in 1990 at the time of the 25th anniversary council, but it was not until around 2005 that I undertook the first set of interviews and put some thoughts down. After 2010, as the 50th anniversary loomed, the intensity picked up. I remember at a conference putting some chapter headings down on a piece of paper and passing it to Marc Purcell and Susan Harris-Rimmer, who commented, changed the order, added one or two and nodded encouragingly, and so began the race to finish it in time. I would like to thank those who gave me the necessary nudges over the past few years to make this publication possible; in particular, Marc Purcell, the executive director of ACFID, and his staff who gave me their full support without any editorial ‘guidance’ as to what should or should not be included. This presented its own set of challenges as then it was up to me to make those decisions. The staff at the Special Collections Reading Room at the National Library of Australia were always helpful in retrieving boxes from ‘off site’. The NLA’s archiving staff (together with ACFID staff) did a fantastic job of cataloguing 40 years of archives, from enigmatic handwritten notes to ground-breaking reports. It is these manuscripts of the official record that are the primary sources for the book and against which interviews were checked when there was an occasional difference in accounts. Special thanks go to Jim Richards who provided some valuable research assistance for Chapter 6 on human rights. The interviewees were chosen on the basis of their leadership role in ACFID or their insights into particular issues they were involved with during their time with the organisation. I spoke to all former executive directors, who generously gave their time: Mick Sullivan, Bob Whan, Russell Rollason, Janet Hunt, Graham Tupper and Paul O’Callaghan. In particular, I would like to thank Russell Rollason and Janet Hunt, who provided valuable comments on earlier drafts and kept me anchored to the reality of the times. I would also like to thank former presidents and chairmen: the late Major General Paul Cullen, Richard Alston, Bill Armstrong and Gaye Hart; former executive committee members: Wendy Rose, Elizabeth Reid, Wendy Poussard, Ruth Pfanner, xi NGOs and Political Change Andrew Hewitt, Jeremy Hobbs, and Jack de Groot; Chris Franks from the Code of Conduct Committee; and James Ensor from the Advocacy Committee. In addition, thanks are also due to former foreign ministers Andrew Peacock and Gareth Evans, and former staff of ACFID Brendan O’Dwyer, Kate Moore, Christine Vincent, Cath Blunt, Pat Walsh and Susan Harris-Rimmer. The late Jim Webb and Nancy Anderson, who I had the opportunity to speak to, deserve a special mention as they were present at the meetings and workshops that led to the establishment of ACFID. The three anonymous reviewers and the Social Sciences Editorial Board led by Emeritus Professor Marian Sawer provided constructive feedback and kept me focused. Special thanks go to Helen Topor for copyediting the manuscript and to the ANU Press for publishing the book. Last, but by no means least, I am grateful to my wife Joyce Wu whose constant support made this task possible. She provided much-needed proofreading and made valuable editorial comments. xii Naming conventions In a history such as this, the names of agencies invariably change. ACFID began as the Australian Council for Overseas Aid (ACFOA), the name it had until 2004. The convention I have adopted is to use the current name or terminology (for example, ACFID and global education rather than ACFOA and development education) except where material is cited and in direct quotes. For the Australian government aid agency I use the name AusAID, as it had that name for over 20 years until the agency was absorbed into the Department of Foreign Affairs in 2014. References to ADAA, ADAB and AIDAB refer to the former names of the Australian aid agency. In the case of the East Pakistan crisis of 1971, I have used the name Bangladesh (which came into existence in early 1972) for consistency. Further explanation is made in the text. The term NGO will be used throughout this book to refer to international development NGOs rather than the less-often-used term INGO. The term ‘local NGOs’ will be used for developing country NGOs and ‘domestic NGOs’ for those NGOs which operate solely within Australia. I have used the generic name the Red Cross rather than Australian Red Cross or ARC, as it is more familiar to the reader. Other Red Cross societies or agencies will be referred to by their full names. xiii Glossary