The Urgency Was Terrifying: Australian Charities Grapple With Trump's Foreign Aid Freeze
Almost a year after the Trump administration abruptly withdrew billions in foreign aid funding, Australian charities operating in the Pacific are still reeling from the devastating consequences. Critical programs supporting education, nutrition, and health have been slashed, with aid groups reporting preventable deaths and severe regional instability as a direct result.
Immediate Impact on Pacific Programs
The sudden funding freeze created immediate chaos for organisations like Care Australia. Their Hatutan project in Timor-Leste, which had received approximately US$26 million over five years to feed about 70,000 schoolchildren, saw its funding pulled without warning. "The urgency of it was pretty terrifying," says Bianca Collier, Care Australia's director of international programs and operations. Staff with limited resources themselves had to be let go immediately, damaging the organisation's reputation in communities that expected longer notice.
Australia's Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade eventually stepped in to provide support, allowing the Hatutan project to continue at a reduced capacity. However, instead of helping 70,000 children, the program now supports just 12,000 – a stark reduction that highlights the scale of the funding crisis.
Global Scale of the Cuts
The impact extends far beyond Timor-Leste. Care International had to close 48 US-funded programs across 31 countries, affecting approximately 18.4 million people. In the Indo-Pacific region alone, about $400 million was torn from programs in the first six months following the cuts. Thousands of staff were let go, and about 20 country offices had to close entirely.
Matthew Maury, chief executive officer of the Australian Council for International Development, describes the sudden nature of the cuts as "somewhat unprecedented." He recalls the striking imagery of Elon Musk, then head of the Doge staff overseeing USAID's chaotic takeover, boasting about putting the agency "through the woodchipper" with a chainsaw on stage. "That imagery was a pretty good illustration of the lack of thinking and the crudeness of how that was done," Maury says.
Human Cost and Preventable Deaths
The human cost of these cuts is staggering. Real-time modelling by Boston University mathematician and health economist Associate Professor Brooke Nichols shows the withdrawal of USAID funding has caused almost 250,000 adult deaths and more than 500,000 child deaths. Her metrics indicate approximately 88 people are dying every hour from preventable causes including malaria, pneumonia, HIV, and malnutrition.
A study published in The Lancet predicted more than 14 million people could die by 2030 because of the cuts. The authors described this as a "staggering number of avoidable deaths" and warned that the shock to poorer countries would "be similar in scale to a global pandemic or a major armed conflict."
Broader Regional Implications
The funding cuts have broader implications for regional stability and diplomacy. Collier notes that the US had been increasing investment in the Pacific region to counter Chinese influence and build diplomatic relationships. The sudden withdrawal of this support creates strategic vulnerabilities and undermines years of relationship-building efforts.
Programs focusing on health, reproductive health, gender rights, LGBTQ+ rights, and climate change were particularly targeted for cuts. Organisations were required to demonstrate their work served America's immediate interests, seemingly ignoring global challenges like climate change and pandemic prevention.
Australia's Response and Ongoing Challenges
While Australia hasn't followed other countries in making similar cuts to foreign aid, the government faces increasing pressure to do more. The Australian Council for International Development is calling for 1% of the budget to be invested in foreign aid, up from the current 0.65% spent on development assistance.
Foreign Affairs Minister Penny Wong acknowledges the reduction in USAID funding is "having consequences" and describes development assistance as "an investment in stability, peace, and security." The Australian government has pivoted its aid distribution, with 75 cents of every development dollar now going to the Indo-Pacific region to fill critical gaps where possible.
However, many organisations remain wary of speaking out about the impacts for fear of retribution from the US, creating a chilling effect on transparency and accountability in the humanitarian sector. As the ripple effects of these cuts continue to spread through vulnerable communities, Australian charities face an ongoing struggle to maintain essential services with dramatically reduced resources.
