Investing in the prevention of conflict is a better way to ensure a safer and more prosperous future than money spent preparing for and fighting wars.

We live in an age of extraordinary and dangerous contradiction. The world is wealthier than at any point in human history. Scientific and technological breakthroughs are transforming lives. Yet conflict and inequality are rising, people are being forced from their homes in search of safety at record levels, social cohesion is fraying, and millions of people are losing faith in the institutions designed to protect them.

More than 123 million people around the world have now been forcibly displaced. In Lebanon alone more than one million people have been forced from their homes in search of safety since the outbreak of widespread hostilities across the Middle East in early March. Conflict, economic instability and political exclusion are colliding in ways that are creating unprecedented uncertainty and driving unimaginable human suffering.

Wealthy nations are choosing to respond by spending record amounts preparing for and fighting wars, while investing little on conflict prevention. Global military expenditure reached a record US$2.71 trillion in 2024. News sources report the war with Iran has cost at least US$29 billion in direct expenses, with the true cost closer to US$ 270 billion. At the same time, US aid plummeted by $38 billion from 2024–25. Globally, foreign aid fell by roughly $50 billion in a single year in 2025 – that’s an annual reduction of 23.1 per cent making it the largest ever annual contraction.

Here in Australia, we now spend more than ten times as much on defence as we do on overseas aid. By the end of the decade, that gap is forecast to grow even wider. If the federal budget were $100, around $6.60 would be spent on defence. Overseas aid would receive approximately 63 cents.

This should........

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