Mal Washer (Moore, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

First, I would like to congratulate the member for Fremantle for bringing the attention of the Committee to the important issue of maternal and child health in Papua New Guinea. Congratulations. Last Monday, 8 March, was International Women’s Day. For the last 35 years, the United Nations have celebrated women’s achievements on this day without regard to divisions, whether they are national, economic, linguistic, cultural, economic or political. It is a day when nations look back at the struggles and accomplishments, and also, most importantly, look forward to future opportunities for women worldwide.

This year’s theme, ‘Equal rights, equal opportunities: Progress for all’, highlights the fundamental principle that gender equality and women’s empowerment are essential if we are to achieve the Millennium Development Goals. Goal 5 is to reduce by three-quarters, between 1990 and 2015, the maternal mortality ratio and achieve universal access to reproductive health by 2015. Sadly, there has been little progress in this being achieved. In 1990 in the developing world as a whole, there were 480 maternal deaths per 100,000 births. Fifteen years later in 2005, there were 450 maternal deaths per 100,000 births. Each year, 536,000 women and girls die as a result of complications during pregnancy; 99 per cent of these deaths occur in developing countries. Improved access to family planning is critical—40 per cent of pregnancies are unplanned. In poorer countries in Africa and the Asia-Pacific, 40 per cent of maternal deaths would be eliminated if contraceptive needs were met and there would be a 20 per cent reduction in deaths in children under five years of age if women could use contraception to space their births by two years or more. Countries that have lower fertility rates spend substantially more on the health and education of children than those with higher fertility rates.

The Papua New Guinea Department of Health Ministerial Task Force on Maternal Health are to be commended for their recommendations to address the current maternal health status of about 300 deaths per 100,000 live births. In light of our commitment to the Millennium Development Goals, the Australian government must support the Papua New Guinea government in the implementation of these recommendations. These recommendations include the implementation of universal free primary education, strengthening of access and coverage of quality voluntary family service provisions for all Papua New Guineans; access for every woman to supervised delivery by a trained health care provider by 2030; and access for all women to comprehensive obstetric care, and quality emergency obstetric care if required. It is very sad that most women die in the first 24 hours after childbirth from haemorrhage or infection.

Progress towards the goals is currently threatened by slow economic growth, diminished resources and fewer trade opportunities. However, donor nations must not reduce their aid. Our population globally is currently 6.9 billion and by conservative UN estimates it will be 9.15 billion by 2050. We currently have the largest generation ever entering reproductive age. It is critical that we stabilise our populations if any of the goals such as environmental sustainability and reduction of hunger and poverty are to be achieved. The only way that we can do this is by enabling equality and empowerment for women. Nations that implement measures to help address this issue, such as Papua New Guinea, must be supported. We must remember that we are not isolated from these issues, as poverty, population growth and the adverse effects of climate change will exert significant pressure on worldwide migration.

Our commitment to the global partnership embodied in the Millennium Declaration and in achieving the goals must remain strong. As UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said:

Gender equality and women’s empowerment are fundamental to the global mission of the United Nations to achieve equal rights and dignity for all … But equality for women and girls is also an economic and social imperative. Until women and girls are liberated from poverty and injustice, all our goals—peace, security and sustainable development—stand in jeopardy.

I commend this excellent motion to the committee.

See this speech in context