In a meeting with federal opposition foreign affairs spokeswoman Julie Bishop in Sydney on Tuesday, the rock star praised the bipartisan support Australian politicians have given to providing aid.
"One thing that struck me about Australians is you love a good argument and you argue about all the right things," he said.
"It's amazing that here in Australia there's not much argument about aid, you - across party lines - are in agreement that a certain level of despair is not acceptable and you want to show the world what you're about."
The pair had a serious but informal chat as they sat on a couch at the commonwealth parliamentary offices in Sydney before speaking briefly to reporters.Ms Bishop said they had had "a fruitful discussion" about Australia's aid program.
"I've explained how there is a bipartisan commitment in Australia to ensure we meet a 0.5 per cent of gross national income target for our aid budget by 2015," she said.
"We are also very much in support of the government's current review of the effectiveness of that aid budget.
"Australians are very generous people but they need to be assured that they are getting value for the money they commit to development overseas."
Bono, who will perform with U2 at ANZ Stadium on Tuesday night, presented Ms Bishop with a red iPod as part of his Red Campaign to raise awareness about HIV/Aids.
When asked by Ms Bishop if U2's top 100 songs were already downloaded, Bono said she would have to program it herself.
"I wasn't sure if you might have been more (into) Radiohead or Coldplay or Jay Z," he said.
source : http://news.smh.com.au/
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