Tanya Plibersek (Sydney, Australian Labor Party, Deputy Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Hansard source

A $4½ billion cut and he wants to justify it in this place! What nonsense. Under the previous Labor government, our contribution to overseas development assistance grew with every budget. In 2006-07 we gave $2.9 billion through AusAID, and by 2013-14 that had grown to $5.66 billion. During our time in government we almost doubled overseas development assistance, and now we find that our proportion of aid to GNI is back to 2000-01 levels under this government. As I said at the end of October in a speech to the Australian Council for International Development, the government's decision to slash $4½ billion from Australia's aid budget, announced at a minute to midnight in the dying days of the election campaign, is a severe disappointment to millions of Australians who agree that we have an ethical responsibility to help. It is a betrayal of the poorest of the poor in our region and around the globe and we are committed to holding this government to account.

In Washington DC right now governments from around the world will be asked to make commitments to replenish the Global Fund, which fights HIV, tuberculosis and malaria in the developing world. Australia is already strongly engaged in the Global Fund. I met with Global Fund director Mark Dybul recently to hear of their work, and he expressed his gratitude for Australia's past efforts and the Global Fund's desire for an ongoing commitment from Australia. Since 2002 the fund has approved programs worth more than US$22.4 billion in 150 countries, has saved an estimated 8.7 million lives by providing antiretroviral treatment for people living with HIV and provided tuberculosis treatment for 9.7 million people. The fund supports the strengthening of health systems, invests in training and aims to improve service delivery in hard to reach places and at-risk populations.

With Australia's help, the Global Fund has done some amazing work in the Asia Pacific region. Around 21 per cent of the Global Fund's grants are directed to Asia and the Pacific. These grants have resulted in more than 500,000 people being on life-saving HIV treatment, 46 million insecticide treated bed nets being distributed and the treatment of 6.6 million cases of tuberculosis. There have been other results in Asia and the Pacific. Over the past ten years, Cambodia has documented important declines in TB prevalence, incidence and mortality. Preliminary surveys found a 43 per cent decline in the prevalence of TB cases between 2002 and 2011. This represents an average decline of 4.7 per cent per year. In Papua New Guinea, malaria prevention has also been strong, with 3.6 million insecticide treated nets distributed. In Timor Leste, over 3,500 people received HIV testing and counselling in 2011, and over 450,000 condoms were distributed to prevent the spread of HIV. In Indonesia, 23,000 people are currently receiving HIV treatment, and the Global Fund finances 50 per cent of the national HIV program.

Labor's last budget confirmed Australia's payment of $100 million this year. This is the largest single-year contribution ever made by Australia . Over the last term of the government, Labor contributed over $200million. Over the four years from 2013 to 2016, the Global Fund aims to save a further ten million lives and prevent up to 180 million new infections from the three diseases. This is work that Australia must make a contribution to. Australia has been called on to contribute $375 million to the Global Fund for the years 2014 to 2016. Remembering that in our last year of funding Australia contributed a historic high of $100 million, what has the government announced today? They have announced a cut to our funding for the Global Fund to around $67 million for the next year, and the year after that, and the year after that. From $100 million this year to $200 million over the next three years. This is well short of the $375 million expected by the Global Fund and by the international community, by non-government organisations in Australia and, most importantly, by citizens around our region who are relying on Australia's contribution to the Global Fund.

The opposition will not oppose this legislation. But we bear in mind why this legislation is necessary. The government has abolished AusAID. They have made significant cuts to our aid program, and they are in the process of making significant changes to how our international development policy is delivered. Serious questions are raised, and we are yet to see adequate explanations from the government. Remember that the Global Fund has been successful in our region. It has been successful internationally. Yet we see the $375 million expected of Australia become instead $200 million, just over half of what was expected. We see the $100 million that we have contributed this year become a paltry $67 million next year. This is at a time when need around the world is as great as it has ever been. It is at a time when the Global Fund says that if we do not invest now we will pay forever because if we see backsliding now, if we see a reduction in effort today, on tuberculosis or malaria or HIV we will never catch up again. When it comes to the development of multidrug-resistant strains of tuberculosis, the threat is on our doorstep right now, and this cheapjack, cut-price effort with the Global Fund is something that we will pay for—and our neighbours will pay for—for generations to come.

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