In the run up the 2015 Australian Budget, which was known to be cutting Australian aid to unprecedented levels, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation’s The Weekly ran a video segment that cast a satirical eye over the arguments for reducing aid, presented aid’s economic and security benefits, and highlighted the lack of awareness in the general public about how little is actually spent.

“How much do you think Australia spent on aid prior to the 2015 Budget? 20%, 10%? The answer is actually 0.22% (a number that, even if you double it, is still rounded down to zero)… aid is such a small piece of the Budget pie that we’re actually giving the bits of the piece that are stuck to the knife when you cut it”

The Weekly posted the segment to YouTube following the broadcast, where it was tweeted and shared on Facebook by NGOs, ACFID, the Campaign for Australian Aid, and Mamamia; and subsequently re-tweeted and shared widely on other social media. At last count the video had over 41,000 YouTube views. That might not sound like that much, but to put it in context typical viewing numbers of other segments from the Weekly, on their YouTube channel, are around 3,000… with the exception of a segment on internet piracy at 30,000. To me this shows that informative and entertaining video about international development can gain a lot of traction online.