Kerry Bartlett (Macquarie, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I move:

That the House:

(1)

expresses its concern at the tragically high incidence of extreme poverty in the world;

(2)

supports the Australian Government’s commitment to the Millennium Development Goals;

(3)

recognises recent increases in Australia’s commitment to overseas aid; and

(4)

urges continued efforts towards the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals and the halving of world poverty by 2015.

It is too easy from the comfort of our own relative affluence to tune out to the devastating impact of world poverty. Yet surely none of us would find it remotely acceptable that over one billion people live on less than $1 a day, that 10 to 12 million children die each year from largely preventable illnesses, that the maternal mortality rate of 670 per 100,000 live births in developing countries is 50 to 60 times the rate that we experience in affluent countries, that over 100 million children do not attend school or that some 50 million people are living with HIV-AIDS as it rages through many developing countries.

Thus the agreement of the United Nations members, including Australia, in the year 2000 was to strive towards halving world poverty by the year 2015 by addressing the eight agreed Millennium Development Goals. Specifically, these goals aim, by 2015, to halve the number of people living on less than $1 a day; to achieve universal primary education; to eliminate gender disparity in education; to reduce by two-thirds the childhood mortality rate; to reduce by three-quarters the maternal mortality rate; to reverse the spread of HIV-AIDS, malaria and other major diseases; to ensure environmental sustainability and reverse the loss of environmental resources, including halving the number of people without safe drinking water; and to develop a global partnership for development which includes a fairer trading and financial system.

I welcome the increased efforts of the Australian government in recent years. The year before last, in the 2005-06 budget, we increased our overseas aid giving by $358 million—an increase of some 12 per cent. In this year’s budget we increased our overseas aid program by another $455 million, some 15 per cent. I welcome the Prime Minister’s commitment last year to doubling Australia’s aid commitment to $4 billion by 2010.

I also welcome the announcement by the Treasurer just last month of another $136 million for the Multilateral Debt Relief Initiative. That is in addition to earlier relief of bilateral debt under the HIPC program, to which we contributed some $112 million. I welcome Australia’s leadership in trying to liberate world trade and reduce the trade barriers which severely impede the efforts of developing countries to benefit from world trade. We are also leading by example in this by applying zero tariffs to all imports from the world’s 50 poorest countries.

These are very significant initiatives. However, there is still more to be done. I urge the Australian government to continue to increase the quantum of overseas aid to work towards the UN goal of 0.7 per cent of GDP by 2015. We need to continue our work with developing countries to build effective systems of governance to ensure that the best use is made of this aid. We need to continue our leadership in the push for more equitable trading regimes which will allow developing countries to access world markets as an important means of stimulating economic growth.

But we also need to remember our own responsibility as individuals in this matter. It is easy for us to sit back and expect the government to do what we are often not willing to do ourselves. Yet tax deductibility for donations to accredited aid organisations effectively means that the Australian government heavily subsidises an individual’s aid-giving. If we expect the government to give then we as individuals also need to give to assist the world’s poor. The tragic effects of world poverty make it incumbent on us all to carry our share of the weight and work towards reducing the suffering of those far less fortunate than us. The human cost of inaction is just far too great.

See this speech in context