Kay Hull (Riverina, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

I commend the member for Parramatta for raising the issue of the Millennium Development Goals, the MDGs, in the House this evening. I will start by saying that the statement of the parliaments of the world on actions for the MDGs was most definitely ambitious but, sadly, the outcomes have not been so impressive, particularly in our Asia-Pacific region. It is and should be of grave concern to this parliament of Australia that the report in August this year from AusAID titled Tracking development and governance in the Pacific has outlined that the progress in the Millennium Development Goals in three nations we have very close contact with and responsibilities towards is of grave concern. On every millennium development goal, Papua New Guinea is sadly off track. The Solomon Islands is having difficulty with many of the Millennium Development Goals. Fiji is most definitely off track and Timor-Leste is significantly off track in MDG outcomes. I speak specifically about progress on MDG 6 which is causing me major concern, and that is to do with the issues of HIV. PNG is off track on MDG 6 and so is Timor-Leste. This is a significant concern.

It is essential that members of parliament understand that they have a role and responsibility in actively delivering the MDGs. I question the way in which the reporting is done on MDGs. I do not know how many parliamentarians on both sides of the House, in the government and in the opposition, are acquainted with the reporting of the MDGs through the department. How is the parliament involved in this reporting process? How is the parliament apprised of the reporting process? It was statements of the parliaments that were to outline the actions to be taken to meet the MDGs. Instead, we have little involvement. That must change. Parliamentarians must engage themselves in the debate and engage themselves in actively understanding how the MDGs are reported and exactly how we are meeting the tasks.

In relation to MDG 6, it is essential that members of parliament understand that they have a role and responsibility to actively ensure the delivery of rights and the dignity of those who are living with HIV, including reducing stigma and discrimination; but that is not what is happening. Stigma, discrimination and marginalisation are still happening in every corner of the world, particularly on issues covered by MDG 6. It should be mandatory for departments to brief relevant parliamentary committees and actively interested members and senators on the MDG reporting procedures and progress statements. It is very important that parliamentarians become involved in how the MDGs are delivered. I speak specifically of areas that are of grave concern to me in the way in which some of our funding is being delivered, particularly in Asia-Pacific nations, in Timor-Leste, PNG and the Solomon Islands. We must start to do more than just put together capacity statements. We must enable delivery on the ground. We must engage with those countries that are preventing delivery on the ground to meet the targets of significant development goals. I again speak about MDG 6. I look at all the outposts that have been closed in areas like PNG and I wonder how we are engaging with Papua New Guinea to see that those health outposts are reopened so that people can get access to diagnosis, testing and treatment. There is so much we can do was parliamentarians. There is so much we should be doing as parliamentarians. We must engage ourselves in delivering outcomes because unless parliamentarians get involved in this delivery process and reporting process we are going to see a continuing demise of the MDG outcomes.

See this speech in context