Matt Thistlethwaite (Kingsford Smith, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Treasury) Share this | Hansard source

It's a pleasure to follow my friend the member for Corio, who, I think, is widely respected as one of the best parliamentary secretaries and ministers for the Pacific and who really did a lot for development and aid within the Pacific. I'm reminded of programs such as Pacific Women Shaping Pacific Development, the climate change adaptation program and all of the health, education, infrastructure and welfare programs that were put in place under the stewardship of the member for Corio when he held this ministry. He's very well respected within the Pacific and someone who I see as an expert on these matters. All of the points that he raised in his speech were spot on.

The Pacific is our neighbourhood. They are our greatest friends and, in many respects, we can be doing more to assist this region within our neighbourhood to ensure that we lift development and that we lift living standards. Given the wealth that Australia has, the relatively high living standards that we have and the absolute poverty and low living standards that most people in the Pacific enjoy, we do have an obligation to do our best to ensure that we're working with the nations of the Pacific to boost their development.

That's why Labor does support these bills that establish, finally, the PACER Plus trade agreement. In this respect, these bills give life to the changes to tariffs and to excise duties that provide that favourable nation status to those Pacific nations that are signed up to this agreement. PACER, of course, means the Pacific Agreement on Closer Economic Relations. It's been in negotiation for many years. When I was the Parliamentary Secretary for Pacific Island Affairs, this agreement was being negotiated back in 2012. It's an agreement that is good for our region and will support our neighbours. It helps the Pacific island countries become more active partners in, and benefit from, the regional and global trading system.

PACER Plus also includes an aid component to help with the development of the region. Australia's Pacific aid for trade supports helping to increase economic growth, generate jobs and boost living standards. But it was Labor that really committed to establishing this as a foundation for our relationship with the Pacific, and it's Labor that's truly committed to rebuilding Australia's international development assistance levels to beyond what they are at the moment, particularly within our neighbourhood in the Asia-Pacific. A Shorten Labor government will commit to redeveloping Australia's international development assistance program, including in our neighbouring region in the Pacific, and increasing our aid investment to that area.

As our friends in the region know all too well, the Abbott and Turnbull government have slashed aid. That's resulted in approximately $12 billion being slashed from the international aid assistance budget over the course of this government. These cuts are a source of some international embarrassment for Australia, particularly within our region, given the relatively high living standards that we have compared to our Pacific neighbours. There's a clear expectation of many of those in the Pacific that Australia will take a lead in this region on supporting our neighbour's development, and our behaviour and our relationship with our Pacific neighbours is quite important to Australia's international reputation. As the member for Corio mentioned, when it comes to the Pacific, the United States, our very important defence ally, will often come to Australia and ask us our views on particular issues because they see us as the experts. It's within our region. We have traditionally played a very important partnership role with Pacific nations. In some respects, we have assisted with their defence. The pacific patrol boat scheme comes to mind. And many in the region face a range of development challenges, including small domestic markets, narrow production bases, a weak regulatory and private sector capacity, low savings and investment rates as well as high trade and business costs. They also have young fast-growing populations that need growth and jobs.

The Pacific, unfortunately, has performed the worst of any region when it comes to global development goals. Many of the nations in our backyard don't meet the individual goals within the global development goals, related to things like child mortality rates, levels of primary education and preventable diseases. Tuberculosis is one of the diseases that, unfortunately, is rampant throughout the Pacific. Many people die needlessly each year from a disease that should be preventable within our region. On current measures of relative development, it's possible it won't be too long before Africa overtakes the Pacific on progress towards achieving those development goals. That would mean the Pacific would be the least developed region in the world. That is why Australia has an obligation to do more to support its neighbours within the region.

When Labor were in government we introduced a number of programs aimed specifically at doing just that. One of the big problems within the Pacific is the shockingly high rate of domestic violence and lack of opportunities for participation of women within the economy, within society and within government. That is why Labor instituted the Pacific Women Shaping Pacific Development partnership program. It aimed at ensuring we worked with those nations to reduce levels of domestic violence but also to encourage women's participation in society.

I can recall visiting a domestic violence centre in the Solomon Islands. We saw it first hand and spoke to victims of domestic violence about the assistance they were getting from a community centre specifically established to help people deal with domestic violence and to take them and their children out of abusive relationships. It was Australian aid at work, making a difference to the lives of people within our region.

We all know that climate change is a huge problem for nations within the Pacific. Whenever I would meet with Pacific leaders I would ask them what their challenges and issues were. Climate change would always be the No. 1 issue, particularly for nations like Kiribati and Tuvalu where climate change is threatening their very existence, on islands they've inhabited for thousands of years. Wells are becoming salinised. Crops can no longer be grown in traditional areas. Sea levels are rising out of control and extreme weather events, such as cyclones, are becoming all the more frequent. Access to fresh water is becoming an issue for these nations because of climate change.

In Australia when we speak of climate change we see it as something that will affect us in a generation's time—something we don't have to worry about for years to come. But, if you talk to someone in the Pacific, it is affecting them now. It is an immediate threat. Unfortunately, Australia hasn't been doing enough on climate change adaptation. We certainly haven't been doing our fair share when it comes to reducing emissions within our economy and transitioning to cleaner renewable energy, to try and do our bit to reduce the impact of warming and climate change.

Australia should be a natural partner of choice in assisting its close neighbours in their development needs. But, unfortunately, under the Abbott and Turnbull governments—and, let's face it, whoever else is Prime Minister at the end of this week—our leadership role has been eroded in the Pacific. Labor's been warning for some time now that, under the Abbott and Turnbull governments, Australia has dropped the ball and damaged its reputation within the Pacific. Those $12 billion of cuts to the international aid budget that I mentioned earlier are part of the reason for that.

Earlier this year we saw New Zealand commit to a 30 per cent increase in foreign aid over four years, with the money earmarked primarily for the Pacific region. Their foreign affairs minister, Winston Peters, who is visiting Australia today and did a joint media conference with our Foreign Minister, said that the new commitment reflected New Zealand's identity as being anchored in the Pacific. He said: 'What is good for them is good for us. We all know that, if we look after each other, we're all better off, more prosperous and, therefore, more secure.' He went on to say: 'Prevention saves money. Prevention health strategies save far more taxpayer dollars downstream by tackling health problems early.'

Likewise, Australia has a deep interest in contributing to global poverty alleviation, and our international development program supports security and stability in our region. One obvious need in the region is greater infrastructure investment. Labor has repeatedly stated that infrastructure projects should be transparent, conform to environmental and social safeguards and not place unsustainable debt burdens on regional countries. Australia has an interest and responsibility to assist our smaller regional neighbours with projects that best meet their development needs and provide them with the maximum benefit. This is not about any other country; it is about the role Australia wants to have in our region.

That is why we welcome last month's announcement by Australia, the United States and Japan of a trilateral partnership to invest in infrastructure projects in the Indo-Pacific region. We do need to be much more active when it comes to infrastructure and development within our region. This economic agreement has been years in the making and is signed by most of the nations of the Pacific. It is a shame that Papua New Guinea and Fiji, two of the biggest nations of the Pacific, aren't partners to this agreement. But there is always the opportunity for them to join at a later stage. The focus of Australia, through this agreement, is on building the economic and social capacity of our dear friends in the Pacific to grow their economies, to provide great opportunities for investment in business and greater economic mobility, and ensure that we ultimately improve and boost the living standards of our nearest and dearest neighbours, our friends in the Pacific.

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