Melissa Parke (Fremantle, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

At 4.53 pm on 12 January, a 7.0 magnitude earthquake struck Haiti, inflicting an almost unparalleled natural disaster upon a nation that is among the least equipped to deal with the consequences. Upwards of 150,000 people have been confirmed as dead; 200,000 people are injured, many severely; more than one million people are displaced; and there has been massive destruction of infrastructure. Haiti’s Prime Minister, Jean-Max Bellerive, says the current emergency may last 12 months, while the reconstruction could take up to 10 years.

The urgent need for a well-resourced, comprehensive and coordinated response to the earthquake has been complicated by a number of factors, not least in the case of the UN and NGOs by the toll taken on aid personnel and facilities in Haiti. The headquarters building of the UN peacekeeping mission, MINUSTAH, completely collapsed, killing almost 100 staff, including the head and deputy head of the mission and those officials responsible for emergency and disaster management.

Of course, the terrible magnifier of this disaster is that even before the quake Haiti was the poorest nation in the Western Hemisphere. Two-thirds of Haiti’s population were living below the poverty line, 58 per cent of the population were undernourished and a quarter of Haiti’s children under five were moderately or severely underweight. Half of Haiti’s children did not attend school and there was no effective public sewage system. Much of Haiti is eroded and barren as a result of deforestation, and this undermines subsistence farming efforts, drives up food prices and leaves the country vulnerable to natural disasters. Senior UN official John Bevan has commented in an article entitled ‘Poverty kills people, not nature’, that in 2004 5,000 people died because of two heavy rain showers. Why? Because people are so poor that they cannot afford even the deforested land and ‘build their shacks in the places nobody owns, mainly in dry river valleys which have flash floods once a year’.

The Australian government and many Australians have donated generously towards the appeals for Haiti, to UN agencies like UNICEF as well as the many NGOs doing fantastic work on the ground. Yet it is possible for us to contribute more. While Haiti and its long-suffering people may seem remote to Australians, its history offers a lesson for us all on the historical and structural causes of poverty. Haiti is a former French slave colony that achieved independence in 1804 through a slave revolution but continued to suffer through a series of dictatorships and from foreign intervention and economic exploitation. An example of the latter was France’s demand, supported by embargoes against Haiti by England and the US, for compensation of 90 million francs for lost property—such ‘property’ including the slaves themselves—as the price for recognising Haiti’s independence in 1825. These demands crippled the young country for more than a century as it struggled to pay off high-interest loans taken out to pay France. Haiti used to be self-sufficient in the production of rice, but in the 1980s the IMF insisted Haiti abolish its import tariffs and the dumping of rice surpluses from developed countries followed, thereby destroying Haiti’s rural economy and driving people out of agriculture to shanty towns in the capital.

Further commentary on Haiti’s suffering through outside intervention is contained in an article published on newmatilda.com titled ‘Haiti’s 200-year earthquake’. John Bevan also writes:

We can only defend ourselves from the forces of nature if we have some financial resources.

…            …            …

It’s hard not to see these deaths as calculated sacrifices to an imposed and brutal economic model … As the dust settles on the dead and dying in Port-au-Prince, let’s give a thought to the next batch of paupers who will be killed not by nature, which makes no class distinction, but by their poverty which leaves them vulnerable to even the most predictable downpour.

In the context of Australia’s response to the Haiti disaster, many people in the community were appalled by Senator Joyce’s suggestion last week that the opposition will consider cutting Australia’s international aid budget. He has since tried to justify his comments by claiming that Australia should not borrow funds only to send them overseas. Is he not aware that our recent moderate borrowing was made in the cause of underpinning the Australian domestic economy? If he is concerned about sending funds overseas, does he also propose that we cut the defence procurement budget on that basis? International development and global security are two sides of the same coin and Australia cannot afford an opposition, let alone an alternative government, that makes reckless statements on such important matters.

In the aftermath of the Haiti earthquake the international community has an opportunity to assist in the longer term a country of former slaves that was given little chance from the beginning. It can contribute generously to the reconstruction effort, including the redevelopment of Haiti’s agricultural sector; it can and should consider forgiving Haiti’s existing foreign debt; and it can support democracy in Haiti free of outside interference.

Luke Simpkins (Cowan, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It is with some sadness that I offer my comments today on the tragedy that has befallen Haiti. There is no doubt that it is very hard for us in this country to appreciate the depth of suffering that can result in these places when they are subject to natural disasters of the magnitude that occurred on 12 January this year. Nevertheless, I would like to talk a little about what has occurred in Haiti. I begin by saying that the nation and the people of Haiti have my deepest condolences for the tragedy that they have suffered.

Of course, in the history of Haiti, this is not the first time by any means that an earthquake has afflicted that nation. I understand that in 1751 all but one masonry-built house fell in an earthquake in Port-au-Prince. In 1770, 1842 and 1946 there were major quakes—the one in 1946 had a magnitude of eight on the Richter scale; it brought Haiti down and did great damage to Port-au-Prince. That part of the world also suffers from the major storms that can occur seasonally there. So Haiti has been no stranger to sadness and adversity over that time.

On 12 January at 4.53 pm the latest earthquake, with a magnitude of 7.0 on the Richter scale, resulted in great destruction, particularly in Port-au-Prince but also in other parts around the city area. Somewhere between 170,000 and 200,000 people are reported to have been killed in that tragedy, with 300,000 injured and over a million homeless. Again, it is very hard for us here, in such a stable country in all regards, to appreciate what has befallen the people of Haiti. Furthermore, 250,000 residences and 30,000 commercial buildings have been destroyed. The place has been decimated. The capital is a wreck.

I think it is important to examine this. Some of this might have been avoided. I am not saying that an earthquake measuring seven on the Richter scale will leave everything standing even if construction codes are excellent, but the reality is that there apparently are no construction codes in Haiti and the standards of construction are extremely low. Houses were built on slopes with insufficient steel within the foundations. This was a tragedy and a disaster exacerbated by a history of maladministration. I think that that is also a tragedy. As part of the reconstruction effort—I know a lot of countries have committed a lot of money to this and obviously we applaud what the federal government has put in, the $10 million up front and $5 million for further reconstruction later—there should certainly be a very strong look at putting in place the good governance and standards that are required to try and mitigate the damage that will be caused in future tragedies so that this does not need to happen again on this scale. I think those are things that we need to take away from this.

In the short time I have remaining I would like to talk about what the people of Haiti are facing now. The women and children are extremely vulnerable. Of course, women and children have never had a fair go in Haiti. Apparently, rape was made a crime on the statute books only in 2005—more evidence of what needs to be done. They need to put in place a proper administration and restore a working democracy to make sure that children and women are protected in that country. I thank the Lord that America has responded quickly, as have a number of countries, to make sure that there are soldiers on the ground trying to protect the weak and the vulnerable. It is a tragedy. The country has my condolence, but I look for a much brighter future.

Kelvin Thomson (Wills, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I welcome and commend the motion of sympathy moved by my colleague the member for Fremantle regarding the devastating earthquake in Haiti and the further expression of condolence for the significant loss of life of staff from the United Nations itself. The United Nations, along with aid agencies, are undertaking critical work in providing support for the Haitian people, while the Australian government has contributed significant funding both for emergency relief and for reconstruction.

The Haitian health minister, Alex Larsen, has emphasised the dire situation of homelessness in the aftermath of the quake that could be well be exacerbated this month when heavy rains are due. This could trigger a public health disaster unless quake refugees are given adequate shelter. The United Nations have warned that, if heavy rains arrive—perhaps as early as mid-February—while as many as a million Haitians are still homeless, it could provoke a public health catastrophe, spreading disease through dense, insanitary, makeshift encampments.

An estimated 500,000 people are living in nearly 500 makeshift tent cities, often in shelters made from whatever they can salvage, and in terrible conditions. An initial EU assessment found that more than 4,000 physical structures were destroyed or damaged in the capital, Port-au-Prince. The Haitian health minister said it was necessary to ensure better sanitation in the camps to prevent the emergence of communicable diseases, saying such a development was ‘the biggest concern for the government of Haiti’. ‘I believe the biggest problem right now is people sleeping in the street,’ Mr Larsen said.

With so many homeless people, aid groups have been unable to get enough tents to all of them. This is an immediate concern, as the lack of tents leave people vulnerable to the elements. Many fear that they could still be without shelter during the upcoming rainy season. Haiti’s president, Rene Preval, called on foreign donors in late January to send 200,000 tents to house families left homeless before rainfall scuttles relief plans. Both Haitian and international officials are also concerned that the camps that do exist may become permanent if a long-term solution to homelessness is not found. Discussions are in train for contracting private companies to build apartment complexes and homes to accommodate residents currently living in tents, as part of a greater reconstruction effort.

It is essential that Haiti is given an opportunity to rebuild anew in ways that allow this impoverished nation, which has experienced enormous hardship, both politically and from natural disasters, to have a brighter future. The international community has a critical role to play in ensuring that Haiti does not descend into despair, and addressing homelessness and economic disadvantage is an important place to start.

I concur with Oxfam’s five priorities for Haitian reconstruction, which include cancellation of Haiti’s outstanding US$890 million international debt; support for Haitian farmers and small business; ensuring poor areas benefit from cash grants to speed economic recovery; support for civil society and the Haitian government; and building earthquake-proof buildings and using alternative fuel sources to reduce deforestation. I also believe, as Oxfam has indicated, that donors, the UN and the Haitian government must work together to ensure that poorer areas that were amongst the hardest hit by the earthquake benefit fully from reconstruction efforts. I think it is important that donors heed the warning of Oxfam Australia’s Policy Director, John Ensor, that:

Haiti is a divided and highly unequal society so there is a real risk that ... politically influential and richer Haitians will secure reconstruction resources at the expense of Port-au-Prince’s poorest.

I wish to add two further points which are of significance in looking beyond this immediate tragedy and the relief effort. The first is that rapid global population growth is giving rise to massive urbanised slums which are highly vulnerable to disasters of all kinds: natural disasters, climate disasters and political conflict. A billion people, one-sixth of the world’s population, live in slums. The slums of Latin America, Africa and Asia are places of insecurity and violence. If we do not try to stabilise the world’s population, the scale, human tragedy and misery of disasters like that in Haiti will inevitably continue to rise.

Secondly, I believe Australia needs to lift its overseas aid. I am pleased at the steps the Australian government is taking to lift our contribution to 0.5 per cent of gross national income, but I would like to see us go further and meet the United Nations target of 0.7 per cent of gross national income. We cannot look upon the faces of those innocent men, women and children in Haiti and see such suffering and hardship and not want to open our hearts and do all that we can to help them.

John Forrest (Mallee, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I too join with colleagues in supporting the motion of the member for Fremantle. Might I offer my condolences, because I am well aware that she has suffered grief for friends, acquaintances and former work colleagues in the United Nations. The death toll of United Nations workers has reached a staggering 93, as I am informed as recently as today. Then you add to that the sheer size of the toll amongst Haitians themselves.

Having attended commemorative functions for Black Saturday in the town of Horsham in my electorate over the weekend, which had a very bad fire, I was reminded that people are well aware of the impact of tragedy. Australians are not strangers to that, but the sheer size of the death toll in Haiti is staggering. I also recall the deep shock of Cyclone Tracey; I was a young engineer at the time. I commend the effort that came out of that disaster, which basically destroyed a whole city. The Australian building industry was overturned, with proper standards being set for cyclone design for buildings.

In a period of grief we need to talk realistically about offering to help Haiti and nations like Haiti—who lack the GDP—to pay for proper building design. It is a tragedy that UN staffers were killed at work in a multistorey building clearly not designed to cope with earthquakes. Earthquake design is no mystery today. It happens right across California and Japan and other earthquake-prone regions of the world. People say that it must cost an enormous amount. No, it does not. The added cost of earthquake design is as small as 1.5 per cent. It is about understanding what an earthquake does. It is not an up-and-down motion but a horizontal motion. It is about building flexibility into a building so that it can move with the horrendous horizontal shift that occurs during earthquakes. You can do that with steel but you cannot necessarily do it with concrete. I understand the building that housed the United Nations staff in Haiti was concrete. We need to do as other members have said—send some engineers over there who know about earthquake design—and help them recover. For a small island state in the middle of the Caribbean, in an area where the Californian and Caribbean plates join, I would recommend that they stay away from multistorey building. That would be my advice.

Similarly, Black Saturday is going to spur us on to be much more conscious about how we manage our forests in the future. Motions like that which the member for Fremantle moved here today spur us on to put on the public record our determination to provide assistance.

There are not a large number of Haitians in Australia but I have discovered one family in a town in Robinvale. They are still waiting on news of loved ones; they have brothers and sisters who have still not been recovered and they do not know where they are. That is a terrible position for families to be put in when the situation was perfectly avoidable.

The death toll is up to 220,000, with 300,000 injured. Imagine the strain that has put on the health system. There have been more than 4,000 amputations. Mr Deputy Speaker Washer, in your professional role you would understand the nature of the crush injury that causes the ultimate amputation of a limb. Haiti desperately needs our help and assistance. It is a great tragedy that just as Haiti was starting to rise above the challenges and political difficulties that it has had over the years this disaster happened. The death and injury toll in Haiti, with a population of less than 10 million, is going to set them back horrendously.

We as a nation need to join with the United States and other countries to help these people recover, and I would like to be part of that. I commend the member for Wills for his comments, which I strenuously support. Australians need to understand that we are the lucky country and that there are other countries around the world that do not enjoy our level of prosperity. I think it is perfectly appropriate that we share the benefit we have with those around the world who are less fortunate than us.

Duncan Kerr (Denison, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

This parliament has been called on on a number of occasions—too many occasions in the past 20 years—to consider motions that have spoken of tragedy in other countries. Those who have served for a long time in this parliament will recall the concern we expressed to the victims of the tsunamis that happened in our own region, to the victims of the Pakistan earthquakes and to a number of other events where the frailty of humans against the scale and magnitude of events caused by earthquakes, tsunami or fire have devastated us.

I think it is fair to say that few, if any, of those circumstances, and certainly any that I can recall in my 23 years as a member of parliament, have amounted to a toll of 220,000-plus in such a small, poor and tragic part of the world. Of course, this is not our backyard and some might say, ‘Why does the compassion of the Australian parliament reach out to people in an area of the world where other and more mighty countries have primary responsibility?’ I accept that basic proposition, but I accept it only this far. As citizens of a globe, we have some significant responsibility, firstly, to express our personal sorrow for the losses and, secondly, as a nation to make a contribution as a fellow nation state to the work of the relief organisations and to the rebuilding of that society. We have already made quite substantial contributions to the initial emergency phase. I am certain the member for Fremantle will continue to press for a continuing and ongoing commitment by the Australian government both by way of financial contribution and advice and constructive input into the best way to ensure that the lives of those who have survived can be reconstructed in a way which permits them to have some chance of a fairer and better future.

This is an enormous tragedy, and I thank very much the member for Mallee for referring to the personal loss that the member for Fremantle has experienced. Four of her close friends with whom she worked at the United Nations lost their lives in the disaster that befell the UN. The UN has difficult roles to play in this world and nothing more tragically illustrates that cost that is sometimes imposed on its personnel than that fact. I am certain that the member for Fremantle, when she composes herself sufficiently to refer directly to those four people that she knew so well, will make her own contribution in that regard.

Finally, I am delighted that this motion that has been put forward has received the bipartisan support of members from all sides. That reflects broadly my experience of this parliament when it is confronted by these kinds of large tragedies that affect the global community. I echo the hope of the member for Wills that we are able to make a common defence of ongoing significant contributions to overseas development assistance, particularly as it is sometimes contested by those within our community. It is something that we all share a responsibility of advocating.

I thank the member for Fremantle for raising this matter in this parliament. I know it has been the subject of comment by the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition. I am certain that the good wishes that are being expressed today and the advocacy that is occurring behind the scenes by members on all sides in encouraging our Minister for Foreign Affairs and the Parliamentary Secretary for International Development Assistance to focus on ongoing reconstruction will be attended to with goodwill and with the support of all sides of this parliament.

I thank all members who have participated in this debate. We are always put on the spot when we speak on these kinds of things. It is hard to find words that effectively capture an event of such immensity. To speak on something that caused the loss of some 200,000 lives—nearly half the population of my state of Tasmania, let alone those injured and left behind homeless, fatherless and motherless—is something that is truthfully beyond me. I do my limited best to express my concern.

Darren Chester (Gippsland, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I join with other members who have spoken already on the motion put forward by the member for Fremantle on the tragic earthquake which occurred in Haiti on 12 January. I am sure many of us as members of parliament were having a well-earned break with our family and friends in the summer holiday period at the time. Sitting at home and seeing the images broadcast into our lounge rooms, I do not think anyone could not have been moved to tears, particularly those in Victoria who experienced the Black Saturday bushfires recently. But the sheer scale of this disaster really put our lives into perspective at a very difficult time. I take great pleasure in being here on behalf of the people of Gippsland to express our sympathy and sorrow and to express our support to the people of Haiti at this terrible time.

Haiti’s president, Rene Preval, was reported in the media on 28 January as saying that nearly 170,000 bodies had been counted. Today, listening to other members’ contributions, I have heard different figures. The different figures just stun me. It is another level of dysfunction in an already impoverished nation, but coming to grips with the actual numbers is impossible for us as members of parliament here in Australia when you think that 170,000 is the population of Ballarat and Bendigo combined. If we reflect on the Black Saturday bushfires again, 173 people died in that disaster and it was the worst natural disaster in Australia’s history. So for us here in Australia to try to comprehend the level of destruction in Haiti is extremely difficult. We must also reflect that a wealthy nation like Australia was far better placed to deal with the tragedy that befell us only 12 months ago in terms of infrastructure, resources and assistance in place to cope with what confronted us as a natural disaster. I know we debate our health system a lot in this place but in comparison to the support that is available to the people of Haiti at this terrible time I think we have very little to complain about. But I trust no-one will hold that against me in future debates when we discuss all the issues in Gippsland!

I express my deepest sympathy to the people of Haiti and recognise the ongoing issues of homelessness, security and certainly what may be a decade of rebuilding. I also note—and other members have as well—that the motion refers to the United Nations and the greatest loss of life that the organisation has faced in its history. Our thoughts are with the families and friends and very much so with the member for Fremantle, who carries herself with a great deal of dignity and has the respect of both sides of the House. Our thoughts are with her at this time.

Even amidst this enormous tragedy there have been some remarkable stories of survival. Fifteen days after the earthquake the rescuers retrieved a 16-year-old Haitian girl out of the rubble of the college of St Gerard in Port-au-Prince. The young lady’s name was Darlene Etienne and she was described as weak but happy. What lies ahead for Darlene and her compatriots is something that I think we need to reflect on more here in Australia, and the level of support that our government can provide. The uncertainty that faces the nation of Haiti and young Darlene is something that concerns me deeply and I know it concerns others on both sides of the House. The federal government has donated $10 million, which was supported in a bipartisan manner. That was the immediate relief but also there was $5 million for reconstruction. I certainly personally support that aid.

I do take some exception to the member for Fremantle’s reflections on Senator Joyce’s remarks at the Press Club. I was there on the day and the media coverage and the government’s key messages do not sit exactly with my recollection of Barnaby Joyce’s comments on that day. They were reflective rather than prescriptive remarks, indicating that there were hard decisions to be made to balance the nation’s books in the future in terms of debt. So I do not believe it was quite as cut and dried as the government’s key lines seem to be reflecting in their attacks on Senator Joyce at the moment. I am not aware of any change in the aspirational policy of the opposition regarding the foreign aid budget. The Minister for Finance and Deregulation himself has repeatedly indicated that everything will be up for review in the future in terms of paying back our debt. Having said that, I do not want to diminish at all the spirit of this occasion in our parliament’s reflections on behalf of our communities and I certainly support the need to provide government assistance to the people of Haiti.

I also want to reflect on the fact that Australians are very generous people and that they do not always just depend on government aid to flow through to express their support. There is a lot of direct support coming through from Australian people right around the world. They recognise opportunities to make contributions themselves at a person-to-person level rather than relying on the government-to-government level. There have been many direct donations, I know, from people within the broader Australian community. I take up the previous member’s comments regarding it not being in our backyard but, as global citizens, we do have a responsibility to help wherever we can. Australians have shown their generous spirit on many occasions in the past and I am sure will continue to show that spirit in the future. I thank the House.

Mal Washer (Moore, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! The time allotted for this debate has expired. The debate is adjourned and the resumption of the debate will be made an order of the day for the next sitting.