Andrew Broad (Mallee, National Party, Assistant Minister to the Deputy Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

I present the report of the Australian Parliamentary Delegation to Kenya and Ethiopia, 3 to 9 June 2018. I ask leave of the House to make a short statement in connection with the report.

Leave granted.

I was very pleased to present the report of the Australian Parliamentary Delegation to Kenya and Ethiopia, 3 to 9 June 2018. My fellow delegates and I welcomed the opportunity to visit Kenya and Ethiopia. As one of the few delegation visits to Africa in recent years, it provided an opportunity to reflect on the existing relationship with each country and to discuss opportunities to strengthen these relationships into the future. The delegation sought to explore issues of common interest in relation to humanitarian aid, mining, agricultural production, governance, education, trade and investment.

A significant part of the delegation visit was to Kakuma refugee camp in north-west Kenya. Located in northern Kenya, it's one of the country's most impoverished and marginalised areas. At the time of the delegation's visit, Kakuma was home to 186,000 registered refugees and asylum seekers, who had arrived from a range of countries. More than 100,000 of those people were from South Sudan. Kakuma was divided into two camps. The delegation had the opportunity to visit both camps. I wish to extend the delegation's appreciation to representatives of the UNHCR and World Food Programme for their hospitality and facilitation of our visit.

I point out that most of those in those camps would return to their country of origin after about seven years in the camps, and we saw evidence of Australia's involvement in the World Food Programme, which was bringing people back from the brink of starvation to being healthy and then able to ultimately return to their country. It made me proud as an Australian to think that we contribute to these programs. We should sing from the hilltops more about the good work that we do with Australian taxpayers' money in things like the World Food Programme, and we should, frankly, commit a bit more funds to that.

In addition to humanitarian issues, the delegate was focused in Kenya on areas of common interests, including agricultural production. Kenya exports huge amounts of cut flowers into Australia. Our visit went to a farm that was being leased by an Australian Nuffield scholar, Stuart Barden, and his wife, Annie. They offered the opportunity to discuss innovative agriculture techniques that are common practice in Australian agriculture that are now able to be rolled out in Kenya and are increasing their food reliability as a result.

Discussions with parliamentary counterparts, including the speaker of the National Assembly, the majority leader, the vice chairperson and many of the Defence and Foreign Relations Committee, ranged across many topics, including governance and efforts to address corruption. We also had the opportunity to meet with a diverse group of Australians working in Kenya and to gain the perspectives of Kenya's Australia Awards alumni. There is a lot of value in giving people from Kenya and other parts of the world the opportunity to do short courses in Australia. It builds those people-to-people relationships, and it also builds capacity in those countries.

In Ethiopia, the delegation undertook a range of meetings with state ministers, the foreign affairs committee and the Ethiopian Investment Commission. Some of the themes arising from these meetings were agriculture, resources, mining and security, as well as investment and other opportunities. I encourage Ethiopian Airlines, which run a very modern fleet, to look at direct air links between Ethiopia and Perth, which would, of course, give the opportunity for more chilled meat cuts to go there and to allow more domestic abattoir works in Australia to take those products there, as well as open up the opportunity for adventure tourism into Africa and into Ethiopia.

The delegation was particularly privileged to visit Dr Catherine Hamlin, an Australian. Perhaps you could describe her as the Mother Teresa of Ethiopia, and she comes from Australia. Together with her late husband, Reginald, she established the Hamlin Fistula Hospital in Addis Ababa in 1974. A range of important issues affecting Ethiopian women were also canvassed during a productive lunch meeting with a group of prominent Ethiopian women. It was inspiring, I have to say. If I could say this on behalf of every member of the delegation, it was terribly inspiring to see the work that Catherine Hamlin has done and to be so proud that this is an Australian changing lives in other parts of the world.

The final aspect of our program was the Lalibela World Heritage site, a 13th century complex of 11 medieval cave churches that remain a place of pilgrimage and devotion today.

On behalf of the delegation, I wish to extend the delegates' appreciation and thanks to all of those who contributed to the visit's program. The delegation greatly appreciated the efforts that went into producing such a productive visit and the hospitality that was extended to the delegation in each country. I thank Australia's diplomatic staff in each country, including High Commissioner Alison Chartres in Kenya and Ambassador Mark Sawers in Ethiopia. I just want to thank the UNHCR and the World Food Program.

Finally, I thank my fellow delegates, the members for Cowper, Gellibrand and Moreton. When we were held up because of weather and we had to wait for the river to go rushing past, myself and the member for Moreton wandered across to some tribespeople. He handed them his business card, which they looked at with some amusement because they didn't have a mobile phone and they had been herding their goats and their sheep up and down these lands for thousands and thousands of years. We attempted to make communication. When we left, they handed him back the business card. The member for Moreton concluded that they must be National voters!

It is clear that Australia, Kenya and Ethiopia share many common values and interests and that opportunities exist to build and strengthen our relationship with these countries.

I commend the report to the House.

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