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BRING tiie 1990s, an increase in tlie occurrence of humanitarian disasters Mlias led aid organisations to expand their emergency response capacities, ^ ^ and tlie allocation of government funds and private donations to emer gencies has reached unprecedented levels.Development assistance, which focuses on longer-term economic, political and social improvements in die well-being of poor or vulnerable communities, has stagnated in many parts of die world, while humanitarian aid, which aims to alleviate lile-direatening suffering and help com munities traverse periods ol crisis (Brauman, 1995:10), has become the most com mon form of aid in states deemed to have collapsed.Australia has followed diis global trend.By 1993/94 emergency relief activities had become the largest area ol Australian Agency for Internadonal Development (AusAID) funding to non-government organisations (NGOs), represendng 38 per cent ol total aid allocations (AusAID, 1995:10).Total muldlateral and bilateral emergency aid grew from US$40.lm in 1988 to US$54m in 1991 (AIDAB, 1994:89).Hence, emergency relief represented 5.4 per cent of total official devel opment assistance in 1995/96 (Downer, 1997), up from 3.6 per cent in 1988 (AIDAB, 1994:89).But in spite of diis increase in emergency aedvides, Australian aid organisations, bodi government and 11011-government, remain intellectually fo cused on development.IJtde debate takes place in Australia about die impact of emergency operadons and ways in which aid agencies can improve the effeedveness and efficiency ol dieir interventions.Characterised by die rapidity of die response, the scale ol the problem, and notions ol 'complexity', 'chaos', and 'anarchy', emer gency aid operadons are often excused from die scrutiny which is accorded to de velopment programs.I11 diis article, it is suggested dial diis lack of debate reflects a culture of justifi cation surrounding Australian aid and die language associated widi humanitarian crises.I lie extent to which humanitarian aid can have unintended negative conse quences is illustrated, and die effectiveness of AusAID's mechanisms for ensuring dial Australian aid does not have harmful consequences is examined. Fiona Terry is a postgraduate student
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