Ross Hart (Bass, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise today to support the motion moved by the member for Moreton and I thank him for bringing to the attention of the House the important issue of Australia's role in assisting countries to reduce poverty and achieve inclusive prosperity through international aid.

We are living in a world of ever-increasing global inequality, and in fact inequality is worse today than at any time since the 19th century. We know that the richest one per cent of the world's population has more wealth than the rest of the world's population combined. In our region of the Asia Pacific, there are more than 330 million people living in extreme poverty, 1.5 billion without access to safe sanitation and one in seven suffering from malnutrition.

Certainly, Australia has a decent record when it comes to the provision of international aid and assistance to developing nations. The highest ratio of aid-to-gross income—that is, GNI—was 0.48 per cent during the 1967-68 financial year under successive Prime Minsters Holt, McEwen and Gorton. The $5.1 billion spent in 2012 to 2013 represented the peak of Australia's aid in dollar terms—although, in terms of the ratio of aid to GNI, it was well below the levels of the 1960s and the 1970s.

Unfortunately, we've recently seen a weakening of Australia's overseas aid spending with the 2017-18 budget, cutting an additional $303 million over the forward estimates. This brings Australia to its lowest spending on overseas aid as a proportion of gross national income since records were first kept to 0.22 per cent. Nevertheless, Australia is one of 194 countries to have endorsed the agenda for sustainable development, which sets out 17 goals to eliminate poverty, improve health and achieve inclusive economic and social development.

The sustainable development goals—the SDGs—are:

… are a universal call to action to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure that all people enjoy peace and prosperity.

They address a range of issues such as poverty, education, gender inequality, health, food security and climate change among several others.

The SDGs call for action by all countries, recognising that ending poverty must be achieved within the context of economic growth and addressing social needs. Adopted at a UN summit in 2014, the SDGs came into force on 1 January 2016, although they are not legally binding on signatory nations. Rather, the expectation is that governments will take ownership and establish national frameworks for the achievement of the 17 goals. This seems reasonable to me. In fact, this is more than reasonable—it seems to me that charting a pathway to the achievement of the SDGs is an obligation which is imposed upon us as a privileged and advanced economy within the community of nations.

Where we have around 766 million people, 380 million of them children, living on less than $2 a day, development assistance is even more important than before. Why shouldn't we, a nation as prosperous as we are, freely commit to the global agenda of tackling inequality? We know that there is significant community support for an increased overseas aid budget and greater assistance to developing nations, with approximately 1.6 million individual Australians donating $1 billion to international aid organisations annually.

Just this last Saturday, I attended a fundraiser for a Tasmanian NGO, the Peter Hewitt Care for Africa Foundation, a small aid organisation based in my electorate, delivering education, health care, clean water and sanitation in the Tarime district in Tanzania. The CEO Diana Butler AM and her dedicated team of volunteers raise tens of thousands of dollars annually to fulfil the organisation's aims of delivering vital aid on the ground in rural Tanzania.

But our contribution shouldn't be primarily charitable from private organisations. We know that our long-term interest as a nation is served by supporting, mentoring and investing in the sustainable development of nations burdened by poverty and disadvantage. There have been over 9,000 public submissions received with regard to the forthcoming foreign policy white paper. This is an overwhelming response that clearly indicates that the great level of community concern with Australia's foreign policy interests, international engagement and commitment to overseas aid. It is in this context of community engagement and concern that I echo the sentiments put forward by the member for Moreton in his motion. I call on the Turnbull government to consider increasing Australia's aid in real terms in the next four years in support of achieving the sustainable development goals.

See this speech in context