Jason Wood (La Trobe, Liberal Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Justice and Public Security) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

On 14 September I met with Fiona Grech, a Micah Challenge supporter from my electorate of La Trobe, who lives in Berwick. Micah Challenge is committed to lobbying the government to achieve the millennium development goals by 2015—in particular, halving global poverty, improving maternal health and reducing child mortality.

This year marks the fifth birthday of Micah Challenge’s Voices for Justice national conference, held here in Canberra every September. Sadly, whilst Voices for Justice has gone from strength to strength, many children living in poverty do not reach their fifth birthday. That is an absolute tragedy. As part of their fifth birthday festivities, Voices for Justice are encouraging their supporters to hold a ‘survive past five’ birthday party in every electorate across Australia before next year’s federal election to highlight child mortality rates in Third World countries, and to lobby this government to achieve Millennium Development Goal 4: reduce child mortality.

In the Asia Pacific region, 34,000 mothers and 400,000 children tragically die every year from preventable causes and across the world one woman dies during childbirth every minute, which is unbelievable. In September 2000, world leaders were committed to achieving the eight United Nations Millennium Development Goals by 2015. It is now October 2009. The deadline is less than six years away and fast approaching. Of all donor nations, Australia is ranked 15th out of 22 in terms of aid commitment. To reach our international aid target and achieve the MDGs, Australia needs to increase its aid contribution to 0.7 per cent of GNI by increasing health aid to $1 billion over the next three years. Australia could help prevent over 240,000 children’s deaths and 26,000 maternal deaths.

Another millennium development goal that is close to my heart is MDG1, ‘eradicate extreme poverty and hunger’, halving the number of people living in extreme poverty by 2015. In 2005, 1.4 billion people were living on less than US$1 every day—again, an unbelievable figure. Higher food prices are expected to increase this number by almost 100 million people by the end of this decade. The United Nations has serious doubts that MDG1 will be achieved by the deadline. Hindering the achievement of MDG1 is the global slave trade and human trafficking. Slavery and human trafficking go hand in hand with world poverty. Improving living conditions for the world’s poorest people will go a long way to ending slavery and human trafficking.

I am pleased by Cadbury’s recent announcement that it will phase out the use of cocoa farmed using child labour by 2010. This is a step in the right direction. Hopefully their decision will encourage other major chocolate producers to follow suit and raise awareness of slavery and extreme poverty in Third World countries. Earlier this year I travelled to Europe with the Parliamentary Joint Committee on the Australian Crime Commission to discuss slavery and human trafficking with representatives from Interpol and learn about what measures the European Union is taking to end slavery in West Africa. Twenty-seven million people are thought to be enslaved globally, generating $7 billion every year, meaning slavery and human trafficking is behind only the illicit drugs trade and the illegal arms trade as the most profitable crime—something which, as a former police officer, I was amazed to hear.

The sad fact is that many people do not realise their favourite brands of chocolate are sourced from Third World cocoa producers in Ghana and the Ivory Coast, where the workers are underpaid and overworked. I am aware that the member for Sturt wrote to the Prime Minister requesting that all vending machines in Parliament House stock only fair trade chocolate, tea and coffee. I also note that the Lord Mayor of Sydney, Clover Moore, banned Tim Tams from council meetings. This action prompted Arnott’s to defend their choice in cocoa suppliers. It is action like this that highlights the problems and makes companies like Cadbury’s change their policies.

I encourage everyone to, where possible, use fair trade products and really support this cause. Again, I congratulate Fiona Grech and all Micah Challenge advocates for their passionate pursuit of the Millennium Development Goals, and urge the government to ensure MDG targets are met by 2015. (Time expired)