Australia's aid commitment deferral may cost a million lives: Tim Costello

'Australian aid saved 200,000 lives this past year. If we had kept our promise and not pushed it out by another year that's another million lives over the next four years that would have been saved.'

This was World Vision Australia Chief Executive Tom Costello's response to Foreign Affairs Minister Bob Carr's confirmation that Australia's commitment to lift foreign aid to 0.5 per cent of gross national income by 2014-15 has been pushed back to 2015-16.

While acknowledging that there would still be a rise in foreign aid, he said the aid budget had already had "a very significant haircut" and blasted the diversion of spending for another year. Read more here.

Christian justice organisation, Micah Challenge has been calling on Australians to write to Wayne Swift asking him not to reduce the commitment to aid. Read more here.