Sharon Claydon (Newcastle, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I second the motion and will speak to it immediately. I am very pleased to second this motion, noting that 24 March is World Tuberculosis Day, which commemorates the precious lives lost to this disease and recognises the serious impacts that COVID-19 is having on TB services globally. World TB Day is an opportunity to remember the 1.4 million people who have lost their lives to tuberculosis in 2019 alone, reflect on our achievements and acknowledge the need for greater attention for one of the most devastating infectious diseases on the planet. TB remains one the world's deadliest infectious killers. Each day, nearly 4,000 lives are lost to TB and close to 28,000 people fall ill with this utterly preventable and curable disease. Global efforts to combat TB have saved an estimated 63 million lives since 2000. That's extraordinary.

The member for Leichhardt, Warren Entsch, and I as co-chairs of the Australian TB Caucus acknowledge and thank our parliamentary colleagues for their bipartisan support and commitment to raising the profile and advocating for more investment into helping eliminate TB. I want to take the opportunity to acknowledge and thank, especially, the member for Leichhardt, as it was his dedication and lobbying within his own government that helped secure Australia's pledge of $242 million to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. This global fund has saved, literally, millions of lives.

Last year demanded that we have a collective focus on the COVID-19 pandemic and the emerging global health crisis. That has pushed the End TB program back and has put it at risk of not meeting the targets we expected. In many countries we're seeing resources for TB redirected to the COVID-19 response, and public demand for TB testing and treatment is also declining. Without urgent action, this has the potential to cause an additional 1.4 million TB related deaths over the next five years.

A tuberculosis epidemic is raging in our nearest neighbour, Papua New Guinea. The country has the highest incidence of TB in the western Pacific region. It is currently experiencing 38,000 new cases a year. Multidrug-resistant TB rates are particularly high and especially so in some recognised hotspots, like Western Province, National Capital District and Gulf Province. Port Moresby General Hospital now has a dedicated ward for TB sufferers. Many of the TB patients in the Port Moresby hospital are young children, with reports that paediatric TB cases now make up more than a quarter of all cases in PNG. This is a tragic state of affairs, and it is crucial that Australia helps its immediate neighbour tackle this epidemic. These diseases are preventable, but what is needed to prevent them is funding. Given the proximity of PNG—I know the member for Leichhardt is acutely aware of the proximity of PNG to his own electorate—and the high prevalence rates in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities in our Cape York region, Australia has a lot at stake to ensure that our neighbours in PNG are safe and that we are committed to ending TB in that nation as well.

COVID-19 has demonstrated that no-one is safe until everyone is safe. It has also shown us that strong collaboration across countries, political commitment and funding can lead to rapid solutions for major health challenges, and we need a similar response to TB now. The 2021 World TB Day theme is 'The Clock is Ticking', and that reminds us that there is little time to lose if we're to live up to the promises that our leaders made at the United Nations high-level meeting on TB back in September 2018, where Australia pledged its support to end the TB epidemic. The government needs to continue and increase Australia's TB investment in the Asia-Pacific region in order to sustain work already being done there and to safeguard the progress that has been made so far. On behalf of the Australian TB Caucus, we want to thank our partners for organising 2021 World TB Day events, especially Results Australia for hosting the breakfast this year. We will be doing everything we can to eliminate TB. (Time expired)

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