What do you think Australia’s development program is currently known for in the region?’

From the responses, the top five (more positive) things named were:

Gender and diversity focus

This sounded like: Australia has been a leader in investment and promotion of gender and disability inclusion; gender and disability commitments are generally well regarded; increasingly, gender is a comparative advantage

Humanitarian assistance

This sounded like: reliability in a crisis; disaster response; a feeling that if something bad happens in the region, Australia will respond; humanitarian response programs following natural disasters.  

Responsiveness

This sounded like: responsiveness to partner government priorities; responsiveness and practicality; we listen and then take a flexible and adaptive approach.  

Asia-Pacific engagement / regional prioritisation

This sounded like: Australia has a long-standing reputation for engagement in the region; in much of the Pacific Australia still has a soft-power advantage vis a vis donors like China.  

Reliability

This sounded like: Known as a trusted partner (does what it says); reliable and committed to quality; sympathetic to local concerns; reliability over time.

The second round saw our respondents deciding where they would capitalise — in other words, where would they double down on the good points.

RANKING RESULTS

Meanwhile, we also compiled a list of the top five more negative things the development program was known for.

Paternalistic

This sounded like: Australia's arrogance, high-handedness and implicit racism; inexperienced and rude Australian staff.

Risk-averse

This sounded like: an increasingly cautious and uniform approach to risk; zero risk tolerance - onerous, controlling and expensive compliance obligations.

Countering China

This sounded like: focused on the threat of China; driven by geopolitical interests (China); trying to compete with China.

Reduced funding

This sounded like: a decade of cuts; modest funding; long-term decline in funding.

Climate inaction

This sounded like: lack of political commitment to climate change; weak on climate change.

In the second round, we asked our respondents which issues Australia really needed to address.

RANKING RESULTS

The next set of questions looked at genuine development partnerships and where Australia's focus should be in terms of geography. Click through to see the results.