John McVeigh (Groom, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak in support of the motion by the member for Corangamite.

Today, I would like to focus on just one country that UNICEF does its tremendous work in, and that country is the new country of South Sudan. The reason I focus just on South Sudan, when UNICEF operates in 190 countries and territories around the world, is due to the fact that this work in South Sudan is often spoken about in my electorate of Groom. Our city of Toowoomba is home to around 2,000 former Sudanese nationals, many of whom have heartbreaking stories to tell.

Toowoomba Regional Council became the third local government area in Queensland to become a refugee welcome zone, and we continue to be a large refugee resettlement area. It is through meeting and talking with these new Australians that I have had a greater understanding of the humanitarian works undertaken by UNICEF and how the work they do is so often the difference between life and death for some individuals.

UNICEF has operated in Sudan since 1952 and is the largest UN agency dedicated to supporting women and children, a role that is vitally important given that the country has faced civil war, drought, disease and a lack of basic infrastructure in many areas. It is estimated that more than two million have died and that more than four million have become refugees as a result of the various civil wars.

To talk to our Sudanese is truly a sobering experience. They tell me about the atrocities they witnessed, about their flight to freedom, about their years in refugee camps and now the joys that they have in living in Australia. One of my constituents, whose parents were shot by rebels, was forced to become a child soldier before escaping and crossing the entire country on foot. He lost his entire family but now leads a productive life in Australia where he and his wife have started a family of their own. He has firsthand knowledge of the works of UNICEF and the works that they do for those that they assist.

In the face of high rates of child and maternal mortality, UNICEF is improving primary health care across Sudan to reduce the risks faced by mothers and children from preventable diseases. UNICEF also tackles the underlying causes of malnutrition through support to community-based services. With water-based diseases a major cause of child mortality, UNICEF is working to increase access to safe water and sanitation and to improve household hygiene practices. These are services we take for granted in our country, and I am proud that I am in a government that contributes $21 million a year in core funding to UNICEF's works in countries like Sudan.

Then, there is another aspect of UNICEF's work in Sudan that I am staunchly behind: the development of quality, accessible education for all children with a special focus on girls. I have one son and five daughters and my wife is a teacher. I, therefore, have a very special interest in education. My daughters are in tertiary education and some are now embarking on their own careers, such that they will have all sorts of opportunities before them in this transforming world economy that we live in. I cannot truly comprehend a world without learning, a world without books, without teachers and I applaud, therefore, the works being done around the world by UNICEF.

UNICEF celebrates its 70th anniversary on 11 December, and the idealist in me hopes that in some future time there will not be a need for their future services, but the realist can see, though, that the world will continue to need their services. It is essential that we continue to applaud UNICEF and its works, and I, for one, would like to thank their staff all around the world for the good work that they do. They supply so many services, but, above all, they supply hope in the hour of greatest need for so many people around this world.

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