ABSTRACT
The national story and policy legitimacy Aid is given primarily for humanitarian reasons to alleviate poverty through economic and social development. The fundamental objective of Australian aid is to help people overcome poverty. The aim of this chapter is to expand the old representation humanitarian versus strategic or commercial objectives in a belief that the question of which is the appropriate end of the aid program cannot ever be 'resolved' one way or the other. The chapter discusses four conceptualisations of Australia's national story, based on: national security; enlightened self-interest; being a good international citizen; and acting as a regional partner. What these categories do is provide a way of thinking about both the familiarity of these debates over time and the extent to which changing the emphasis in aid objectives can produce variation in the amount given, the recipient and the type of aid.
