Senator BOB CARR (New South Wales—Minister for Foreign Affairs) (14:35): There is such a threat of a cut to the Australian aid budget. It came in this immensely detailed policy document about Northern Australia, which is weighty with detail. It proposes a huge excision in Australian development assistance abroad, without any justification. It is not compatible with the OECD guidelines that help us shape what is eligible and not eligible for Australian aid. It is a massive cut. They say that they would compensate by building a hospital in Australia, but that is not how you help the Solomons with their problem of malaria. It is not how you help get rid of polio in Pakistan. It is not how you stop the spread of TB— Senator Ian Macdonald: Mr President, I raise a point of order. This minister is showing discourtesy to you in continually turning his back on the President, when we should be all addressing the President. Would you please ask the minister to show some courtesy. The PRESIDENT: And I have told you repeatedly: that is not a point of order. Senator BOB CARR: Australia's aid budget for this financial year is a record and proud $5.2 billion—that is, $315 million more than the previous year and $2 billion more than the coalition's aid budget in its last year in office. Our approach meets the OECD's guidelines for the proper use of aid. But if this coalition policy were to be implemented, a huge excision from that aid budget would take place, with the justification of building a medical research facility on Australian soil, which would make no contribution to the acute health problems of some of Australia's poor neighbours. You do not reduce the incidence of malaria in Vanuatu by building a research facility on Australian soil. You disappoint the people of the Solomons who look to Australia to beat malaria and eradicate it from their islands by 2020, as we all do. (Time expired)