Scott Morrison (Cook, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Housing and Local Government) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

During the past week we have acknowledged in this place the great significance of the election of Barack Obama as the first African-American President-elect of the United States. It is a truly significant event and, as the leader of the opposition remarked this week, it was the answer to a prayer of generations past and a vision realised. But as we note that, it is important for us to take the opportunity to also recognise the contribution of the serving US President, George Bush, to the African continent in particular. There are many commentaries to be made about George Bush as a President, but one of which he can be absolutely rightly proud—and every member of this chamber I am sure would agree—is his service to the people of Africa and his commitments to the area of aid, which have been without parallel by any other US President.

In my maiden speech I noted the tragedy that around 6,500 people—our fellow human beings—die every day from preventable diseases in Africa, and we are constantly reminded of these tragedies. Most recently we were reminded of the Congo. We have been reminded of the horrific events in Zimbabwe; there was a private member’s motion only just this week. We are reminded of Darfur. We are reminded of these tragedies all over the African continent. What is incredibly important is that each of us individually, as governments and as communities decides not just to make poverty history but to make it our own personal business and our own personal reaction.

The President of the United States, George Bush, did this in the most powerful position on this planet and he took a decision to invest heavily the resources of that nation in trying to provide a better future for the African continent. Over the term of his presidency he met with 36 African heads of state and took three independent trips to Africa to highlight the partnership that he had built to expand education, empower women and fight against diseases such as HIV-AIDS and malaria.

More significant has been the increase in aid to Africa from the United States under the leadership of President Bush, which was the largest expansion of American development assistance since the Marshall Plan. It doubled in his first term and will increase to $8.7 billion per year by 2010, which is again doubling the 2004 levels he set as a record in his first term. In addition, as President he delivered a total of $42 billion in debt relief; $34 billion of that was for 19 African countries. He established the Millennium Challenge Account—$2.4 billion to fight poverty through economic growth—committing to just rule, to deal with issues of corruption on that continent which sadly rob the future from Africans on a daily basis, to invest in people and to encourage economic freedom as a pathway for the liberty of those people.

He established the African Growth and Opportunity Act, which in 2007 allowed 98 per cent of African exports coming into the United States to enter duty free. He established the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief early in his term, in 2003, which was $15 billion over five years to provide antiviral treatment for, at this stage, some 1.3 million people in sub-Saharan Africa. On 30 May 2007, this commitment was doubled to $30 billion over the next five years. $1.2 billion established the President’s Malaria Initiative to reduce malaria deaths by 50 per cent in 15 targeted African countries. In 2002, he established the African Education Initiative which was $600 million over eight years and in May 2007 he again added another $500 million to those commitments.

There will be many things said about President Bush, and those on this side of the House will say many very good things about President Bush. There will be many in the United States who will have a different view about this matter, but there will be many in the continent of Africa who will be able to say that they owe their lives, they owe their education and they owe their economic opportunity to this significant increase in development aid that was provided to the African continent under the leadership of George Bush. I commend the President for his great leadership in that area and for the fact that he provides an example to all of us to make our own personal commitment and to use the influence we have for the same purposes.