Teresa Gambaro (Brisbane, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That this House:

(1) notes Australia's condemnation of the group responsible for the abduction of more than 200 school girls from Chibok in Borno State, Nigeria, and deep concern at reports of further abductions in north eastern Nigeria; and

(2) acknowledges that:

(a) the Australian government has made contact with the Nigerian High Commission in Canberra and the Nigerian government in Abuja to express concern;

(b) Australia:

  (i) is working with Nigeria on counter-terrorism to prevent attacks including the recent bombings that took place in Abuja and these abductions;

  (ii) has joined other members of the United Nations Security Council in condemning in the strongest terms the recent attacks committed by Boko Haram; and

  (iii) is strongly committed to empowering women and girls socially, politically and economically, by ending violence against women and girls, and improving access to health care and education; and

(c) the Australian government continues to advise Australians to reconsider their need to travel to Nigeria given the high threat of terrorist attack and kidnapping.

On 14 April this year more than 200 girls were abducted from a boarding school in Borno State in northern Nigeria. Regrettably, there have also been reports of further abductions in north-eastern Nigeria. On 5 May, the group known as Boko Haram claimed responsibility for the abductions. While some of the girls have managed to escape, the majority of the initial group is still being held and Boko Haram has threatened to sell the girls into slavery. Additional reports indicate that 11 more girls were abducted from Warabe, another village in Borno State, on 5 May 2014 by suspected Boko Haram gunmen. On 12 May a video released by Boko Haram showed more than 100 abducted girls, claiming that many had been converting to Islam. A person claiming to be the Boko Haram leader has offered to release the girls in exchange for all Boko Haram prisoners held by Nigeria.

No-one should be under any illusion that these abductions are anything other than acts of terrorism and the lowest form of cowardice and thuggery. In a country such as ours it is really difficult to conceptualise barbaric acts such as these, but I ask every member of this place to be mindful of the fact that every single one of these girls is someone's daughter, sister, cousin or friend. Every one of these girls has exactly the same right as any girl in Australia to live free of any oppression. For this reason, if no other, we must speak out against such atrocities.

This motion informs the House of Australia's response to this crisis thus far. The Australian government is deeply concerned for the welfare of more than 200 schoolchildren who were abducted. On 6 May the Hon. Julie Bishop, Minister for Foreign Affairs, issued a statement condemning Boko Haram. The minister expressed outrage at the threats against the welfare of these girls and pledged Australia's ongoing support to Nigeria on counter-terrorism. Australia has offered support to the Nigerian government through the Australian Ambassador for Counter-Terrorism, Miles Armitage, and Australia's High Commissioner to Nigeria, Jon Richardson. Australia welcomes the support pledged to Nigeria by the international community and will continue to work with the Nigerian government. Nigeria has welcomed Australia's support and we will continue to cooperate on counter-terrorism to prevent such attacks as this.

In this regard it should also be noted that Australia and Nigeria are founding members of the Global Counter Terrorism Forum. Past cooperation on counter-terrorism between Australia and Nigeria includes: in April 2014 Australia's, now former, CT ambassador attended the GCTF Sahel Working Group meeting in Morocco; and in March 2013 the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade facilitated the visit to Australia by officials from Nigeria's Office of the National Security Adviser to learn about Australia's programs, including radicalisation in prisons. In 2013 DFAT contributed $30,000 to the UN Counter-Terrorism Implementation Task Force for a workshop for Nigerian law enforcement officers on preventing and countering radicalisation and in June 2012 DFAT contributed US$31,000 to the International Organization for Migration to help fund a workshop on strengthening border management.

Australia joined other members of the United Nations Security Council on 14 April and 9 May 2014 in condemning in the strongest terms the attacks committed by the terrorist organisation Boko Haram. The United Nations Security Council's committee on al-Qaeda sanctions has blacklisted Boko Haram, with the entry describing Boko Haram as an affiliate of al-Qaeda and the Organisation of al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb. By adding Boko Haram to the United Nation's resolution 1267 al-Qaeda sanctions list, the UN Security Council has helped close off important avenues of funding, travel and weapons to Boko Haram and shown global unity against their savage actions. In addition, the Prime Minister announced on 14 May that Australia was moving urgently to commence the process of listing Boko Haram as a terrorist organisation. I note that this announcement was welcomed by the Leader of the Opposition. The Australian government also continues to advise Australians to reconsider their need to travel to Nigeria, given the very high level of threat of terrorist attacks and kidnapping.

Regrettably, the pace of attacks by Boko Haram has escalated over the past few weeks. Recent attacks include: two car bombs detonated in a crowded marketplace in the city of Jos on 20 May 2014, killing at least 118 people and wounding dozens; a suicide car bombing on a popular street of restaurants and bars in the northern city of Kano on 18 May 2014, killing four; and the bombing of two bridges linking Borno state with neighbouring Adamawa state on 10 May 2014 and Cameroon on 8 May 2014. Press reporting speculates that these bombings were designed to hinder access by security forces. There was also an attack on Gamboru Ngala, a village on Nigeria's border with Cameroon, on 5 May 2014, causing at least 300 deaths, and bombings in Abuja on 1 May and 14 April 2014, killing 19 and 71 people respectively and injuring dozens more.

In terms of the Nigerian and international responses, on 4 May 2014 Nigeria's President, Goodluck Jonathan, directed Nigeria's security agencies to intensify efforts to rescue the schoolgirls. The Nigerian police have also offered a reward of 50 million naira—approximately $300,000—for information to rescue the girls. On 9 to 10 May the United States deployed a team to Nigeria that included State Department, FBI and Defense Department officials to assist with investigations, negotiations, intelligence and military planning. The US has confirmed it is flying manned surveillance aircraft over Nigeria and sharing commercial satellite imagery. The US team has been joined by teams of experts from France and Israel and a cross-agency team from the United Kingdom that includes officials from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, the defence department and the Department for International Development. Canada has agreed to provide surveillance equipment operated by Canadians on the ground in Nigeria to assist. According to media reports, China has also agreed to make available information acquired by its satellites and intelligence services. In addition, Said Djinnit, appointed High-Level Representative of the UN Secretary-General to Nigeria, met President Jonathan on 15 May 2014 to discuss the United Nations' role in supporting efforts to return the abducted schoolgirls.

It is clear that the international community has also rallied against Boko Haram. It is most significant that, at the Paris Summit for Security in Nigeria hosted by French President François Hollande on Saturday 17 May, the presidents of Cameroon and Chad were both quoted in the media as saying that the summit represented a declaration of war on Boko Haram. These specific responses to the abhorrent actions of Boko Haram are part of a wider raft of actions being undertaken by the international community in addressing sexual violence against women and girls in areas of conflict. To this end the Australian Ambassador for Women and Girls, Natasha Stott-Despoja, will address Australia's approach to preventing and responding to a full range of sexually-violent acts at the upcoming Global Summit to End Sexual Violence In Conflict which will take place in London from 10-13 June.

Finally, while all of this information updates the House on the response of Australia and the international community, as the mother of a daughter myself I would like to offer my prayers to the girls' families and their loved ones. I cannot imagine the pain and anguish they are going through. My heart goes out to them and I pray for the girls' safe return.

Russell Broadbent (McMillan, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Is the motion seconded?

Tanya Plibersek (Sydney, Australian Labor Party, Deputy Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I second the motion. Last month, on 14 April, more than 300 girls were abducted in the middle of the night from the safety of their beds by armed men. Exactly six weeks have now passed and 276 of these children remain in captivity. The whole world has watched with great concern, hoping with each passing day for news of the girls' safe return. As the member for Brisbane said, any parent who has been watching this can imagine their own daughter in the place of those girls. We can only imagine the depth of the girls' terror and the parents' grief.

Michelle Obama captured the sentiment of many parents watching on Mother's Day when she said:

In these girls, Barack and I see our own daughters. We see their hopes, their dreams … These girls embody the best hope for the future of our world ... and we are committed to standing up for them not just in times of tragedy or crisis, but for the long haul.

That long haul includes a commitment from wealthy countries like Australia to play our role in the global community and that means a robust aid program—the first step towards standing up for these girls. Aid makes a very real and measurable difference in the world's ability to educate girls. The member for Brisbane spoke very properly about investment in counter-terrorism measures in 2010, 2011 and 2012 and that is, of course, very important. But aid does something else: it builds safer and more equal societies that counteract movements like Boko Haram. Frankly, it builds the schools for these girls to attend.

Prior to these aid cuts, for example, in 2012-13, the Australian aid program in Africa increased the provision of basic sanitation for 12,000 schoolchildren. It provided over 5.6 million vulnerable people with life-saving assistance in conflict and crisis situations. It resulted in an increased income for 94,000 people, including 31,000 women, and it provided more than 100,000 women with increased access to safe water. Aid matters.

Unfortunately last December Ms Gambaro, the member for Brisbane, was complaining about Australian aid in Africa. She said:

I specifically stated that the coalition was really concerned about the large amount of funding going to the Middle East and Africa.

And:

… an enormous amount of money was skewed. Between 2007 and 2008, there was also a 251 per cent increase in spending in Africa, from $111 million-$354 million.

To be, on the one hand, worried about these girls and, on the other hand, to undermine our ability as a country to build the schools that the girls attend and to lift people out of poverty! It is poverty that drives these organisations; poverty is a recruitment drive for organisations like Boko Haram. This motion states that a strong commitment 'to empowering women and girls socially, politically and economically' is important; but you cannot talk about that in the abstract and then cut the means of delivering that empowerment.

Australian aid has seen seven million extra children and over three million girls go to school in Afghanistan. Australian aid built or extended 2,000 schools in Indonesia, creating around 330,000 extra school places. Australian aid made schools free for the first three grades of school in Papua New Guinea, which enabled more than 535,000 children to access free education. We know, when families are making a decision about whether to educate their daughters or their sons, they always prioritise their sons. Think about the girls who are going to school because of this investment in free schooling.

Under Labor the aid program was on track to reach 0.5 per cent of gross national income. That target was set during the Howard government years. Overseas aid increased every year under the federal Labor government, almost doubling under our time in government; yet in this budget the coalition has cut $7.6 billion from aid, stripped the program of transparency and removed long-term targets. The $7.6 billion cut would pay for 25 million people to learn to read and write; it would pay for 1.5 billion life-saving malaria treatments; it would pay for antiretroviral treatment for 10 million people with HIV AIDS; or it would train three million new midwives. The Australian aid cut to Africa is one of the most devastating. This financial year alone more than $90 million has been cut from sub-Saharan African aid programs. Our aid dollars go a very long way in Africa. Aid in Africa builds better and safer lives for women and girls. Aid ensures that girls can go to school, stay in school and feel safe in school.

As our government is pulling back from a robust aid program and slashing aid to Africa, the rest of the world is becoming increasingly optimistic about what we can achieve when we make a commitment to ending poverty in developing countries. Last year, the development committee of the World Bank set the goal of ending extreme poverty by the year 2030. More recently, the United Nations General Assembly working group on global goals concluded that:

Eradicating extreme poverty in a generation is an ambitious but feasible goal.

The world has a historic opportunity to end extreme poverty in a generation. The UN Secretary-General's Special Adviser on the Millennium Development Goals, Professor Jeffrey Sachs, who I met last week, firmly believes that aid can end poverty and he argues that:

Only through global cooperation can individual nations overcome the crisis of extreme poverty, economic instability, social inequality and environmental degradation.

The MDGs have been an essential step towards ending poverty. They have been the most effective global poverty alleviation projects in the history of humanity. The next development agenda, the Sustainable Development Goals, will be adopted at a world summit at the UN in September 2015. These will be important progress in the continued commitment that all of us should share to ending extreme poverty. Africa will continue to be a major focus of the world's fight against poverty. Since the 1950s, Africa's population has increased from fewer than 230 million people to over one billion. Today over 70 per cent of sub-Saharan Africa still lives on less than US$2 a day and, as estimated by Robert Rotberg, half of all the people in the world born from now until 2050 will be African.

Despite the persistence of poverty and the daunting continued population growth, many conditions and development indicators in Africa have improved in recent decades. Child mortality in Africa has declined from 229 per 1,000 births in 1970 to 146 per 1,000 births in 2007. Indeed, worldwide 14,000 fewer children died in 2011 than in 1990. So, despite the growth in the world population, 14,000 fewer people died in 2011 compared to in 1990. Adult literacy in Africa has increased from around 27 per cent in 1970 to around 62 per cent in 2007. Primary school net enrolments have increased from around 53 per cent in 1991 to around 70 per cent in 2007. So aid is working and the economic development that has come with aid has lifted millions out of extreme poverty.

While the aid we have already given has made a difference, the need is still great and aid still needs to be more targeted. Professor Sachs explained:

… the record shows that Africa has long been struggling with rural poverty, tropical diseases, illiteracy, and lack of infrastructure, the right solution is to help address these critical needs through transparent and targeted public and private investments. This includes both more aid and more market financing.

It is in that vein that I call on the government to reverse the cuts to Australian aid. We are a prosperous and a generous nation. Our national identity and our place in the world are defined by many things. Our willingness to contribute generously to aid is one of those. On top of that our aid program is also in our national interest. Countries like China and South Korea that used to receive Australian aid dollars are now major trading partners.

I have to finish by saying that every one of us in this place is concerned beyond words for the interests of these girls who have been kidnapped by Boko Haram. When we refuse to invest in education in Africa and prevent girls just like them from getting safe schooling and when we prevent girls just like them from accessing health care and midwives then we are able to be accused very easily of being easy with the empty words but very short on follow-through.

Kelly O'Dwyer (Higgins, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I think it is a real shame that the member for Sydney did not actually address the substance of the motion but instead gave a bizarre speech about how Australian foreign aid would somehow have stopped these poor schoolchildren in Nigeria being abducted by a proscribed terrorist organisation. I also think it is a real shame that the member for Sydney did not address the substance of this private member's motion on Nigeria but instead talked about foreign aid and yet failed to talk about Labor's lack of credibility on foreign aid when it came to spending foreign aid dollars on an attempt to secure a seat on the Security Council and their diversion of foreign aid for unauthorised boat arrivals—more than 50,000—and their diversion of foreign aid to try to prop up their budget in other ways.

I rise today to speak on the motion that reflects our outrage at the abduction of more than 200 girls from a Nigerian school. This heinous act was perpetrated by the Islamic terrorist organisation Boko Haram, the primary subject of this motion. We are appalled by the thought of these girls being deprived of their liberty, being compelled to change religions and being driven into involuntary marriages with strangers and by the prospect of them being sold into slavery. Our hearts go out to their families, who must be experiencing appalling emotional pain.

Regrettably, this is only one of many repugnant acts perpetrated by this group. This is far from the first abduction committed by Boko Haram, which is also guilty of bombings, murders and rapes. Included in their list of crimes is a wave of bombings in 2012 that killed more than 180 people and this year, on 14 April and 1 May, Boko Haram car bombs in Abjura killed at least 90 people. One of the latest insurgent attacks on the town of Gamboru Ngala has left at least 300 dead and Boko Haram are also suspected of a bombing in a marketplace that killed around 120 people just last Tuesday. The need to address the situation is clear, with the US Congressional Research Service estimating that more than 4,000 people have been killed in the violence and that 300,000 have been displaced.

Boko Haram has two major aims: to implement Sharia, Islamic law, in Nigeria and to oppose the secular westernisation of the country. This means they are particularly opposed to education, as is reflected in their name, which translates to 'Western education is sinful'. So Boko Haram targets students studying a Western style curriculum, girls who are at school, Christian communities and in particular Christian women. According to a 2013 study for Nigeria's Political Violence Research Network, 45 per cent of those killed by Boko Haram are Christian women and children. Indeed, attacks on women and young people have clearly become part of their modus operandi as well as attacks on government buildings, police barracks, churches and mosques.

The willingness of the Australian government to act against this terrorist group is evident in the press release issued by the Prime Minister with Senator George Brandis, the Attorney-General, moving to list Boko Haram as a terrorist organisation. This motion continues in the spirit of that earlier announcement in condemning the abduction of those schoolgirls from Chibok in Nigeria. It recognises our willingness to provide active counter-terrorism support to Nigeria as it strives to free itself from Boko Haram's brutality. In providing such practical support we are joining Britain, France, the European Union and the United States of America. We are also acting consistently with the United Nations Security Council, which, last week, added Boko Haram to the list of al-Qaeda linked organisations. This means that sanctions such as asset freezes and an arms embargo now apply.

This motion and our support are both consistent with Australia's strong stand internationally against terrorism and our commitment to ending violence against women and girls. It is further consistent with our determination to support the economic and political empowerment of women and girls. These are objectives to which Boko Haram are clearly opposed given their willingness to attack schoolgirls at their places of learning. I urge you to voice your repulsion at the criminal actions of Boko Haram and show your support for the Nigerian people by supporting this motion. In the time available I also wish to add my heartfelt concern for the families who are clearly missing their loved ones; I hope for their very safe and speedy return.

Gai Brodtmann (Canberra, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Defence) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

In rising, I would like to commend the member for Brisbane for putting this motion on Nigeria forward.

I have said in this place again and again that education is the great equaliser, the great transformer. It is through education that my sisters and I escaped a cycle of disadvantage. Education, and especially the education of women, is the bedrock of development. Education gives women options and control; it gives them choice. That is why the abduction of over 200 innocent Nigerian schoolgirls is so abhorrent. These young girls were targeted simply because they dared to seek an education, because they dared to improve their lives, and the lives of their families. The name of the perpetrators of this hateful act, Boko Haram, literally means 'Western style education is sin'. This terrorist organisation seeks to prevent the people of Nigeria from seeking an education, and to punish those who do.

I have been alarmed to learn that since this brutal abduction, teachers and members of the education community in Nigeria have been living in fear. Education unions in Nigeria have reported their fears that teacher recruitment will decrease to an all-time low because people are now simply too afraid to enter this most worthy and this most meaningful of professions. I fear too that school enrolment and attendance in Nigeria will be dramatically affected by this abduction. This abduction is not just an attack on these girls and their families but also an attack on every person in this world who believes that the right to education is a fundamental human right.

This morning about 50 girls from Girls Grammar School here in Canberra visited parliament, and I spoke briefly to them about this horrific abduction. In doing so, I wanted to imply how lucky they are as young women to have unhindered access to a good quality education. It is not just in Nigeria where the right of young women to access education is being threatened. Across the world millions of children and adults remain deprived of educational opportunities, some as a result of conflict, some as a result of oppression, many as a result of poverty, and some, like these Nigerian schoolgirls, as a result of fundamentalist ideology. According to the International Labour Organisation, of the 72 million primary school aged children not at school, 44 million are girls. That is 16 million more girls out of school than boys.

I have spoken in this place before about my very great fear that the ability for women to access education in Afghanistan may regress after the withdrawal of Australian troops and the troops of our ISAF partners. Enormous progress has been made in improving girls' access to education in Afghanistan over the last 11 years. Today, millions of Afghan girls and boys are now going to school. Many women now have access to education, to employment, to basic health care and to other essential services that previously were off limits to them. However, without constant vigilance these gains will easily be lost. We know too that in Syria conflict has prevented a generation of girls and boys from accessing education for much of the past three years.

Education is not just a fundamental human right, it is also essential for the exercise of all other human rights. The international community, including Australia, must stand together to protect the right to education for all girls and boys in this world. The international community, including Australia, must do what we can to ensure the urgent return of these abducted Nigerian schoolgirls. Inaction and complacency will only send the message that attacking the right to education is okay. Inaction will cause more Nigerian teachers to withdraw from the profession out of fear, and more Nigerian parents to pull their children out of school.

Today I stand with the teachers, unions and educators of Nigeria who have said they will not stop campaigning 'until our girls are brought back safe and alive and the perpetrators of the heinous crime are brought to book'. Today I stand with the parents and loved ones of these girls, who will not rest until their daughters are returned safely. Today I commit to do all that I can to ensure the fundamental right to education—the fundamental human right to education—for all is upheld the world over. We cannot have a situation where fear prevents children from accessing education. Bring back our girls.

Philip Ruddock (Berowra, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

First, I congratulate the member for Brisbane for this raising this private members' motion on Nigeria. I also commend the member for Canberra. This is a very important debate, and hers was an admirable speech. I thank the opposition for seconding the motion, but I do not thank the seconder for her speech. It was absolutely appalling on a matter of such sensitivity to make it a speech about alleged cutbacks in relation to foreign aid—and then to leave in the way in which she did disappointed me enormously.

I regard this matter as a matter that impacts upon us all. It is not a women's issue, it is not an issue for girls; it is an issue for us all. It is very important that we understand the nature of what is occurring here, and I want to put it in context first. This is an extremist organisation that happens to be Islamic. I do not blame all Muslims for an extremist organisation, but I am going to say something about the organisation, because it is abhorrent. But it is clear that Muslims generally are law-abiding, respectful people, as much concerned as all of us about what is happening.

This motion deals with the condemnation of the group responsible for the abduction of more than 200 schoolgirls in northern Nigeria and reports that further abductions are planned. It acknowledges what we here in Australia have done and the way in which we are working on counter-terrorism; that we have joined with other members of the UN Security Council; that we are committed to empowering women and girls, socially, politically and economically by ending violence against women and girls; and that the government continues to advise Australians about the need for caution. Since this motion was first proposed we have now moved to proscribe this body, Boko Haram, as a terrorist organisation.

This organisation's aim is to revive a medieval Islamic state in order Nigeria. The country has 170 million people and it is split roughly between Christians and Muslims. Boko Haram's origins stem from several militant Islamic groups which formed in Nigeria originally referred to as the 'Nigerian Taliban'. There is no suggestion that they are linked to the Taliban, but it is the case that is organisation, initially formed in 1995 by Abubakar Lawan, was overtaken when the shura, their council or scholars, elected Mohammad Yusuf is its leader. He ousted others and gave it a much more radical profile. He accused those who had been before as being corrupt in not preaching pure Islam. The group became operationally active in December 2003 and operate under the name Boko Haram, meaning 'Western civilisation and is sinful and forbidden' in the local Hausa dialect.

It is it is estimated in the last five years that it has murdered over 4,000 people—and, of course, now, has kidnapped this large number of students. They have inflicted on Nigeria a very, very unfortunate outcome, and it is something that the world community needs to be responsive to and to support Nigeria as it endeavours to work this matter through. I welcome the fact that the UN has been active in relation to this matter. It has also proscribed the organisation as a terrorist body and I welcome the fact that other governments have been active in supporting Nigeria in the way forward and particularly to look at how they can use the information they receive about terrorism to help. Nigeria needs help and support at this time and Australia is very active in relation to it. I think it is appropriate that the parliament should support this motion moved by the member for Brisbane, which properly draws our attention to this very significant question.

Alan Griffin (Bruce, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I also rise to speak in support of the motion moved by the member for Brisbane and join with her and many other colleagues in the condemnation of Boko Haram with respect to the kidnapping of these young girls and for the ongoing acts of violence carried out in Africa's most populated nation, Nigeria. I welcome the efforts of the government in seeking to have Boko Haram listed as a terrorist organisation and, similarly, applaud the United Nations Security Council for its condemnation of the group. I also join the member in acknowledging the importance of having a major focus on the empowerment of women as part of Australia's aid program.

As other speakers have mentioned, the Arabic name 'Boko Haram' is a term which suggests 'Western education is forbidden or sinful'. This extremist group is an immediate threat to the stability, security and sovereignty of Nigeria, especially in the nation's northernmost provinces, as a result of numerous high-profile attacks on targets from mosques and churches to schools and political offices. The group has preyed on the most vulnerable amongst Nigeria's Muslim communities, including university students, the unemployed and street children, warping the teachings of the Koran to attract recruits to carry out crimes and violent acts, all in the hope that Boko Haram could create an Islamist state which upholds sharia law.

It is another unfortunate example of an extremist group giving a bad name to Islam as they manipulate the religion's messages to justify Boko Haram's indefensible and disgusting crimes that it carries out. Boko Haram has claimed responsibility for countless acts of terror, resulting in thousands of deaths since the group's inception over a decade ago. This kidnapping of more than 200 Nigerian schoolgirls is one of the most recent acts of terror they have committed. Boko Haram has also been responsible for many drive-by murders; bombings of churches and mosques of other Muslim traditions; and even a bombing of the UN headquarters in the nation's capital, Abuja.

The chair of the al-Qaeda sanction committee, Australia's UN Ambassador, Gary Quinlan, said the international body had very clear evidence that members of the Nigeria based group had trained with al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb. There is no doubt that what we are debating here today, and, I am hoping, uniting the parliament, is around the question of condemning a horrific act of terrorism—horrific in terms of the fact that it also actually targets the most fragile in the community.

All of us are in a situation where we look at this tragedy and wish the authorities all speed and all power to be able to rescue these kids and give them a chance to actually have a decent life. The fact that they were engaged in an education, something that we would all view as being a fundamental right of all people to have an education, that they would be targeted in this way, underlines the very heinous nature of this group and the way it operates.

When we look at poverty around the world we do know that women in particular and girls are in a situation where they often bear the brunt. That is why it is important that aid programs recognise that and look to provide support when they can.

Statistics from the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade suggest: two-thirds of the 774 million illiterate adults worldwide are women; women make up just over 19 per cent of parliamentarians worldwide but only 2.3 per cent in Pacific countries; women farmers produce more than half the world's food and between 60 to 80 per cent in developing countries, but have far less access to land and resources than male farmers; and one in three women experience physical or sexual violence in their lifetime. So ensuring that we have an aid program which takes the needs of women into account is essential and it needs to be on an ongoing basis in our program.

With respect to the circumstances around this particular tragedy, I join with all others in encouraging those who are working to catch these criminals and free these children all speed and all power. The support of the international community to the authorities in Nigeria is therefore essential. The actions of governments in providing support from across the world are part of what is required to ensure that this organisation is dealt with and dealt with professionally, efficiently and, frankly, in the way they behaved, ruthlessly.

The needs of these children are indicative of the needs of those in developing countries and the needs of women in developing countries are something that need to be— (Time expired)

Jane Prentice (Ryan, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to support this motion and in so doing congratulate the member for Brisbane for bringing this issue onto the formal agenda of our parliament. Freedom to learn is a fundamental right that must be afforded to all. In Australia, we often take for granted the ease with which our children access education. Education is seen as a fact of life, available to all—no fuss, no questions.

Across the world, however, this is not always the case. Access to school and to an education for many women, even in an economically booming country such as Nigeria, has seen women face many challenges in order to obtain equal education to men. A positive correlation exists between the enrolment of girls in primary school and the gross national product and increase of life expectancy. It is due to this correlation that enrolment in schools represents the largest component of the investment in human capital in any society. Rapid social and economic development of the nation has been observed to depend on the calibre of women and their education in that country.

Education bestows on women a disposition for a lifelong acquisition of knowledge, values, attitudes, competencies and skills. The heinous abduction of these 200 schoolgirls by the Islamist militant group Boko Haram, whose name means 'Western education is a sin', has again highlighted the danger that many young girls face when attempting to go to school and has also highlighted that sections of some countries still wish to stand in the way of the right to equal education for women and continue to suppress them in society.

In Nigeria, there are large disparities between the education of boys and the education of girls. Many girls do not have access to adequate education past a certain age. Currently, the adult female literacy rate, which is age 15 and above, for the country is 59.4 per cent, in comparison to the adult male literacy rate of 74.4 per cent. Differences in education have led to this gap in literacy. There are various cultural and socioeconomic issues that prevent women from having adequate access to education. One prominent cultural view is it is better for the women to stay home and learn to tend to their family instead of attending school. Nigerian tradition attaches higher value to a man than a woman, whose place is believed to be in the kitchen.

A study by the University of Ibadan linked the imbalance in boys' and girls' participation to the long-held belief in male superiority and female subordination. This situation has been further aggravated by patriarchal practices which give girls no traditional rights to succession. Therefore, the same patriarchal practices encourage preference to be given to the education of a boy rather than a girl. The decline in economic activity since the 1980s has made education a luxury to many Nigerians, especially to those in rural areas. Because Nigerian parents are known to invest in children depending on their sex, birth order or natural endowment, girls and boys are not treated equally. Often the family can only afford to send one child to school and, because daughters have assumed responsibilities in the home, they are less likely to be the one to attend school.

With so many factors already challenging these Nigerian schoolgirls and holding them back from obtaining an education, this latest abduction is a tragic atrocity. As Foreign Minister Julie Bishop has stated, the Australian community along with the global community is rightly outraged. We completely condemn the group responsible for these attacks. The Australian government is moving urgently to list Boko Haram under the criminal code as a terrorist organisation, and terrorist offences carry penalties of up to 25 years of imprisonment in Australia.

The Foreign Minister has offered Australia's support to the Nigerian government through our Ambassador for Counter-Terrorism. There is strong international pressure for Nigeria to accept the offers of assistance particularly from the United States, the United Kingdom and others. Nigeria has welcomed our support for its counter-terrorism efforts. The situation is quite perilous as it is understood that the girls have been separated into groups. There is a great deal of concern about the separation of the girls because if you try to free one group it could have an adverse impact on the other group. The Foreign Minister has advised that the security concerns are being considered very carefully.

I recently joined the #BringBackOurGirls social media campaign with fellow Parliamentary Friends of Amnesty co-convener, the member for Scullin, in support of Michelle Obama's condemnation of this atrocity, and as a call to action for other countries to stand up for these schoolgirls and see their safe release.

Michael Danby (Melbourne Ports, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary to the Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I too commend the member for Brisbane for raising this important motion in the parliament and for her prompt arrangement of an appearance of a representative of Nigeria before the appropriate committee of this parliament. I know the opposition will support at the intelligence committee the next stage of the proscription of this dreadful group Boko Haram, the Nigerian Islamist group which is the self-proclaimed Nigerian wing of Al-Qaeda.

It is very important, for the proposal of this resolution to understand and for members of the Australian public to understand, that important leaders of the great religion of Islam have condemned this particular group. Saudi Arabia's Grand Mufti recently told Al-Hayat, an important Arab language newspaper, that the group was set up to smear the image of Islam, and condemned the kidnapping of 200 girls, Abdul-Aziz ibn Abdullah Al ash-Sheikh said the Boko Haram was trying to establish Islam in a misguided way in Nigeria and was showing people the wrong path and trying to get people to reject it.

The kidnapping of 200 Christian and Muslim schoolgirls is made more odious by the forced conversion and boasts of—

Craig Kelly (Hughes, 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. The honourable member will have leave to continue speaking when the debate is resumed.