Shame on you, says Geldof

Sir Bob Geldof signs the front of a foreign aid petition to be presented to the Prime Minister. Picture / Sarah Ivey

Sir Bob Geldof yesterday criticised the Government over its level of foreign aid contributions, saying it was a "national disgrace".

But Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters said the visiting anti-poverty reformer had his facts wrong.

Geldof - who advocates for multilateral efforts from developed nations to help developing countries - spoke after signing a Make Poverty History petition calling for more help from the Government.

"The New Zealand Government, frankly, must up their game," he said.

"The pathetic 0.27 per cent that this Government gives to the poorest people on the planet ... is a disgrace.

"The great shame of New Zealand is that it is the [third] lowest in the world with their generosity and this surely does not represent the spirit of the electorate."

New Zealand spends 0.27 per cent of its gross national income (GNI) on foreign aid and aims to lift that to 0.28 per cent by 2008.

But Geldof said it lagged behind other nations in the OECD.

"This can only be done empirically through governments working together ... the New Zealand Government must up its game."

Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters said Geldof had his facts wrong. "Our aid budget represents 0.27 per cent of GNI, which is well ahead of the international average, but it is also important to remember that dollar expenditure is only one measure of our contribution to developing countries."

He said New Zealand also gave hundreds of millions of dollars to Pacific countries in remittances, and took part in peacekeeping missions. It had an open economy and its aid processes were transparent.

He said New Zealand aid was also untied, so reverse benefits were not expected from those receiving it.

Green Party foreign affairs spokesman Keith Locke welcomed the slap Geldof handed out to the Government.

"We are being left right at the back of the pack. Japan and other countries are moving ahead and in the last few months Australia has leapfrogged us and will soon be over 0.3 per cent.

"So we are left with an aid policy out of kilter with our other foreign policy initiatives, such as peacekeeping.

"So it is really great Bob Geldof is embarrassing us on the aid level and might help Labour fulfil its election pledge to get aid to 0.35 by 2010."

Rae Julian, executive director of the Council for International Development, said New Zealand was one of only two OECD countries not on track for the UN Millennium Development Goal (MDG) of 0.7 per cent of Gross National Income to official development aid by 2015.

"It is the height of hypocrisy for the Government to be offering rhetorical support for the MDGs, while taking no practical steps to achieve a key goal," Ms Julian said.

"Geldof is right to call the 0.27 per cent of GNI we devote to aid a disgrace. New Zealand risks international opprobrium if the Government doesn't take serious action on this issue."

TALK OF THE TOWN REACHES HIPPIES AND SUITS

The Rat is in town. The unlikely pin-up boy for the world is still unkempt and wiry even under the flash pinstripe suit, and he still has plenty to say.

Sir Bob Geldof rolls out for a 10-minute public appearance just before he goes into the "Influentials" event with ex-Sex Pistol Malcolm McLaren, Bob Isherwood from Saatchi & Saatchi and Trade Me founder Sam Morgan. (Admission: Up to $1495 plus GST).

In Aotea Square he is met by a phalanx of young people sporting Make Poverty History t-shirts.

One woman has already had to change, after a stealth bombing by a seagull which took exception to the message.

Geldof is more kindly disposed and signs a petition, asking the Government to do more for developing countries.

Then he turns to the media because he has come here, just as he goes everywhere, to save the world, and New Zealand cannot be exempt.

In the 21 years since Live Aid, this middle-aged Geldof has changed "feed the world" to phrases such as "the intellectual and economical absurdity that is globalisation", and "in a democracy we are able to insist our wishes are made manifest."

His aim, of course, is to speak to the rich, so this is far more intellectual than "feed the world", but would not make anywhere near as good a pop song.

Loosely translated, what Geldof is trying to say now that he's grown up is still simply "feed the world".

Two of his fans spotted Geldof while they trawled the nearby Aotea Square market stalls.

Tarot card reader Robbie McDougal, a self-confessed hippy, is a big fan of saving the world, and so of Sir Bob.

Her daughter Jessamy McDougal, 21, was raised with the same principles - "to take care of the world and not be too materialistic".

Robbie had the Live Aid DVD, "and I was at both Live Aid and Live 8 ... well, I was at home watching on television.

"He's just the most extraordinary man, a pop star and he's working for the world."

On Campbell Live the night before, Geldof scoffed at John Campbell's claim that Geldof had indeed saved the world.

"Well, I don't save the world and I haven't and I'm not going to."

He told Campbell that after the 1985 Live Aid concert, "on the Monday the object was to get people to the banks".

The people did go to the banks, and that object hasn't changed.

Yesterday nobody thought to ask whether he liked Mondays any more than he had as a Boomtown Rat.