Matt Thistlethwaite (Kingsford Smith, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

by leave—On behalf of the member for Newcastle, I move:

That this House:

(1) notes that:

(a) three diseases—HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria—still account for the deaths of more than 2.7 million people each year;

(b) since 2000, increased action by national governments and international donors on prevention and detection of and treatment for these diseases has led to significant reductions in cases of and deaths from each disease;

(c) the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (Global Fund) has played a significant role in this progress, and has supported programs with the following outcomes:

  (i) increasing the number of people with HIV with access to antiretroviral therapy to 8.1 million;

  (ii) making available testing and treatment for tuberculosis to 13.2 million people; and

  (iii) supporting the distribution of 548 million insecticide treated bed nets to prevent malaria; and

(d) the Global Fund contributes more than $US4 billion to combat the three diseases each year, and accounts for more than 20 per cent of international funding for HIV, half of international funding for malaria and three quarters of funding for tuberculosis;

(2) recognises:

(a) the proposed Sustainable Development Goals include a target to end the epidemics of AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria by 2030;

(b) achieving this target will require increased investment by national governments, national aid agencies and multilateral agencies such as the Global Fund; and

(c) increased investment in addressing these diseases now will reduce the risk of much greater costs, especially from drug resistance, in the future; and

(3) calls on the Government to continue and consider increasing its support for the Global Fund for the next replenishment period, 2017 to 2019.

I thank the member for Newcastle for putting this particular motion on the agenda paper today. HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria still kill more than 2.7 million people each year throughout the world. These are in many respects preventable diseases, and most Australians would probably believe that, particularly in respect of tuberculosis and malaria, these were diseases that were eradicated a long time ago. It is not the case, particularly in our region, throughout the world where, in places like Papua New Guinea and other Pacific Island nations, tuberculosis is a very big problem and a growing problem.

The Global Fund and other organisations that are working internationally to prevent and combat the spread of these diseases have demonstrated that a very small investment can make a very big difference. For instance, an investment of between $5 to $7 for a treated mosquito net can make all the difference in preventing malaria in regions throughout the world.

Organisations that work to pool resources and expertise in this area have made a big difference. One of those is, of course, the Global Fund. The Global Fund is a partnership that brings together finance, technical expertise, knowledge of communities who live with these diseases, innovation, and importantly scale—economies of scale—to ensure that investment is needed at a reasonable price.

The Global Fund was established in 2012 and, since that time, it has made a very big difference in the area of HIV, TB and malaria. Seventeen million lives have been saved, and they are on track to reach 22 million lives by the end of 2016. There has been a decline of one third in the number of people dying from HIV, TB and malaria since 2012 in countries where The Global Fund invests. There are 8.1 million people on antiretroviral treatment for HIV, 13.2 million people have received TB treatment and 548 million mosquito nets have been distributed through programs for malaria.

So there is the evidence that The Global Fund and the work that it does makes a big difference in preventable diseases such as HIV, TB and malaria. We all know that there is more to do. That is why the particular issue of preventable disease has been recognised through the Sustainable Development Goals process. It is Sustainable Development Goal 3.3: by 2030 the world will aim to end 'the epidemics of AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria and neglected tropical diseases and combat hepatitis, water-borne diseases and other communicable diseases'. This is the commitment the world has made. How we are going to do that is going to take a concerted effort from organisations such as The Global Fund and the partners involved, and Australia is one of those partners. I was proud that Labor, when in government, delivered the largest contribution of an Australian government to The Global Fund—$100 million in 2013. Thankfully, the coalition continued that commitment over the years 2014 to 2016. However, the replenishment period is coming up again next year. There are many who work in this area and, indeed, in the opposition, who are concerned that the government will cut back Australia's commitment to the important work of The Global Fund. We have all seen the $11.6 billion that has been cut from the overseas aid budget by this government. Today, and into the future, we call on the Australian government to make a solid commitment to The Global Fund to continue to fight HIV-AIDS, TB and malaria, particularly in our region.

As I finish, I would like to highlight some statistics about the problem, particularly of TB in our area. Papua New Guinea has the highest rate of TB infection in the Pacific, with an estimated 39,000 total cases and 25,000 new infections each year. Last year, one million Indonesians caught TB, along with 130,000 in Vietnam and 120,000 in Thailand. The World Health Organization says that TB kills 1.5 million people worldwide. That is more than AIDS. Those figures demonstrate the significance of this problem within our region. As I said, many Australians believe that we have eradicated TB, but that is not the case. Some of those infections travel across borders to Australia, so this government needs to make a solid commitment to the TB fund replenishment that is coming up next year.

Sharman Stone (Murray, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I second the motion and rise to strongly support the motion. I commend the member for Newcastle for bringing it to this parliament. I recently travelled to Vietnam with The Global Fund and members of the Pacific Friends of the Global Fund in order to see firsthand the work they sponsor in the fight against HIV-AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria. In 2003, Australia began its financial contributions to The Global Fund in order to help fight against these three deadly diseases, which continue to devastate the lives of so many of our near and further away neighbours in our region. In particular, in trying to end the scourge of the mosquito-borne disease malaria, Australia has assisted in the creation of the Pacific Malaria Initiative, which focuses on the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu. Since 2008, we have helped establish the Asia Pacific Malaria Elimination Network. Our Prime Minister, Malcolm Turnbull, is co-chairing the Asia Pacific Leaders Malaria Alliance, or APLMA, whose members have declared their intention to see the elimination of the malaria disease from our region by 2030. APLMA is probably one of the least known actions of Australia in the fight to rid the world of malaria. Along with the Prime Minister of Vietnam, since 2013 these two great leaders and our great countries of Australia and Vietnam have led other heads of government, representing 55 per cent of the world's population, in our endeavours to see a malaria-free Asia-Pacific in the next 15 years.

Just a short time ago, Prime Minister Turnbull wrote to the Asia-Pacific leaders commending the APLMA road map to them ahead of the 10th East Asia Summit. We expect this road map for the elimination of malaria to be endorsed by 21 heads of government soon. I commend our Prime Minister, Malcolm Turnbull, who, like all prime ministers, is hugely busy, but who also sees the importance of this particular activity or action. Working with Vietnam, one of our closest friends in the region, we aim to see this disease eliminated. Malaria continues to kill children and adults, when, for the cost of an insecticide impregnated bed net, which can be as little as $4, lives can be saved.

When travelling with the Global Fund, we visited a small village in Vietnam close to the Cambodian border. It was surrounded by rubber plantations, the ideal breeding environment for mosquitoes. It was so concerning to be with this village family as they explained that they did have a bed net, and they quickly set it up over their bed to show us. However, the father of the family needed to take this only net and use it when he worked for days at a time as a contractor chipping the weeds in the rubber plantation. This left his wife and two children exposed to mosquitoes until his return. For the small investment of just $4 per net, we could help so many more children see a full and fulfilling life. That is what this Global Fund aims to do.

In the case of HIV, it is now very closely associated with violence against women. When the disease was first described, some 30 or 40 years ago, it was associated with men in same-sex relationships, but today, the people who become HIV-AIDS positive are more likely to be women and girls. On 25 November, we were focusing on the terrible levels of domestic or intimate-partner violence in this country. We need to understand that sexual assault and rape worldwide will affect probably one in three women. One billion women have experienced physical or sexual violence, mostly from an intimate partner, and intimate-partner violence is most prevalent in PNG and other Pacific Island nations close to us.

This sexual violence can cause physical and emotional trauma and permanent health problems, but it also increases a woman's vulnerability to HIV. The link between violence and HIV is now well established. Women's inability to negotiate safe sex and unwanted sex is closely linked to the incidence of HIV. Unwanted sex results in higher risks of her being injured and bleeding, and easier transmission of the virus. Women who are beaten by their partners are 48 per cent more likely to be infected with HIV. Women living with HIV who are in a violent relationship are more likely to fail to continue treatment. Violence against women in itself is a human rights catastrophe we must deal with, but we must also understand the link to the HIV epidemic, how it also hampers progress in peace, security and eradicating poverty, and how it destroys women's lives.

Finally, let me talk about TB. It is a scourge in our region. We are having more and more of these diseases becoming unable to be treated with known medications. PNG now has one of the highest incidence levels of this disease. I commend this motion. It is most important, and we must continue in our efforts to eradicate these three terrible epidemics.

Tim Watts (Gellibrand, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It is with great pleasure that I rise to support the motion before the House today. The Global Fund is the world's largest financier of anti-AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria programs in the world. The numbers are quite extraordinary. The Global Fund is currently helping to fund treatment for 8.1 million HIV infected people with antiretroviral therapies. It has tested and treated over 13 million people for tuberculosis, and distributed almost 550 million insecticide treated nets to prevent the spread of malaria. Altogether, the Global Fund partnership has saved over 17 million lives. It is an organisation that contributes more than $4 billion to fight the spread of these diseases each year. The Global Fund is responsible for more than 20 per cent of total international funding for HIV, half the international funding for malaria prevention and over three-quarters of funding for tuberculosis. It relies on a mixture of both public and private funding. From 2002 to 2016, a total of 56 countries have pledged $42 billion to the fund. The United States is by far the largest contributor, pledging over $10 billion during that time, while Australia sits just outside the top 10, so far pledging just under $400 million.

In December 2013, the newly elected coalition government, to cut expenditure, looked to Australia's contribution to the Global Fund, and pledged $175 million less than what was expected. It is a significant drop for an organisation that is having such a positive impact on the fight against HIV, TB and malaria, particularly in our own region. It was a sign of things to come from the government and the foreign minister, who has presided over unprecedented cuts to Australia's foreign aid budget.

At the time, World Vision CEO Tim Costello said:

… to defeat tuberculosis, HIV and malaria, which literally saves lives, is in our interests because we know that drug resistant tuberculosis is jumping from Papua New Guinea to northern Queensland.

Indeed, the traffic of people between PNG and Northern Queensland is an everyday fact of life in the region. Mr Costello went on to say:

So it's a wise investment because it saves lives of others and it helps protect Australians.

Australia has played a major role in promoting and advocating for immunisations, not just in our region but throughout the world. Earlier this year I travelled to Papua New Guinea with Save the Children to see Australian aid in action. PNG has been particularly hard hit by HIV. In 2008 PNG accounted for 99 per cent of new diagnoses of HIV in the Pacific. We were truly facing an epidemic of extraordinary proportions at that time. A UN report found that the primary reasons for HIV infection were gender inequality, gender-based violence—as the previous speaker aptly highlighted—the impact of alcohol and drugs on sexual behaviour and the commercial sex trade.

An extraordinary amount of work has been done in the last decade since that time to curb the spread of HIV in PNG, and it is truly one of the success stories of Australian aid. It is something that we can all take great pride in. Approximately 85 per cent of people who need antiretroviral medication have access to it—a particularly high percentage for the region. Much of this is due to international aid, of which Australia is PNG's largest donor. Our aid has led to tangible benefits. Last year alone, Australian aid supported the distribution of more than 3.7 million condoms. We also funded HIV testing for over 78,000 people, around 40 per cent of all testing nationally. This testing is a critical part of the equation. When World AIDS Day, which we celebrate this week, was first commemorated in 1988, a diagnosis of HIV was really a death sentence. Today, a diagnosis of HIV is a diagnosis of a chronic disease. So long as it is tested and caught early, antiretrovirals can be used to prevent the onset of AIDS.

Australian aid has been pivotal in ensuring that antiretroviral medication is made available for more pregnant women who are HIV positive. Outbreaks of malaria continue to decline under the national malaria program, and implementation of the PNG, Australia and China trilateral malaria cooperation program, which is due to begin in 2016, will hopefully see malaria continue to decline. Australia has been working hard to establish diagnosis and treatment facilities for both drug-sensitive and drug-resistant TB in the country.

Despite these clear and tangible benefits of Australian aid, this government has taken a scalpel to its budget, cutting it by $11.3 billion. On the eve of World AIDS Day, I implore the government to look at the fantastic work being done as a result of Australian aid and through partnerships with organizations like the Global Fund. Mid-next year is the Global Fund's replenishment period for the period ranging from 2017 to 2019. I urge the government and all civil society groups in Australia to look at the work that has been achieved in our region and throughout the world and to pledge funding that is relative to our wealth as a nation and our capacity to assist those in our region.

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

It is with great pleasure that I rise to speak on this motion today highlighting the vital work of the Global Fund and the continued attention and funding that is required to combat HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria. These three diseases still account for the deaths of nearly three million people around the world each year. While this number is staggeringly high, without the work of the Global Fund and their partners it would be much, much higher. The Global Fund's results report for 2015 details the impact their work is having in saving lives: 17 million lives have been saved because of their programs and they are on track to reach 22 million lives saved by the end of 2016. That is a staggering achievement and a tremendous victory for humanity. There has been a decline of one-third in the number of people dying from HIV, tuberculosis and malaria since 2002 in countries where the Global Fund invest, 8.1 million people are on antiretroviral treatment for HIV, 13.2 million people have received tuberculosis treatment and 548 million mosquito nets have been distributed through programs for malaria.

The Global Fund invests in 21 high-impact countries across Africa and in Asia, where the prevalence of these three diseases is particularly high. For Australians, this includes popular tourist destinations in our region: Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam. The prevalence of TB, HIV-AIDS and malaria in our region affects Australia's national interests both directly, through the immediate health risks to our citizens, and indirectly, through the loss of economic opportunities. Accordingly, it is vital that Australia contributes to the fight to eradicate these ongoing epidemics.

Since 2004, Australia has contributed $515 million to the Global Fund, including a pledge of $200 million to the Global Fund's 2014-16 allocation period. This contribution has delivered significant value for money, with the Global Fund giving US$15 dollars for every US dollar Australia has committed to the eligible countries in Asia and the Pacific—a total of around US$2.9 billion.

This investment will continue to have a significant impact for those three countries, which are already benefiting greatly from the Global Fund programs. The standout statistics are: in Indonesia, we have seen a 64 per cent reduction in deaths from tuberculosis; in Thailand, a 73 per cent reduction of instances of HIV and a 67 per cent reduction in deaths from HIV as well as the 96 per cent reduction in deaths from malaria; and, in Vietnam, an 88 per cent reduction in the incidences of malaria and an 89 per cent reduction in deaths from malaria.

In June, this year, I was fortunate to witness firsthand the real difference the Global Fund's work is having on the ground as I joined a delegation to Vietnam to the observe their programs in action. A standout aspect of the trip was to visit the national lung hospital in Hanoi, where I found a strong connection to my electorate of Newcastle. University of Newcastle graduate Professor Tran Thanh Duong is the director of Vietnam's malaria control project. Professor Duong's work in the Global Fund has led to an astounding reduction in deaths related to malaria in Vietnam, from 5,000 deaths per year to just six.

As noted in the terms of the motion, combating these diseases is in line with the sustainable development goals that have a target to end the epidemic of AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria by 2030. The Global Fund on its own cannot achieve this goal. A concerted multicountry commitment with increased investment by national governments, aid agencies and multilateral agencies such as the Global Fund is required.

As I have mentioned, Australia is a significant contributor to the cause over the past decade but, in the face of some savage cuts into our overseas aid budget of late, many of us have concerns around the investment into programs for these diseases. Australia's current aid program is at its weakest point in our history with the current government's $11.3 billion cuts to overseas aid, meaning that, by 2016, Australia will spend just 22c in every $1,000 of our national income on overseas aid. That is our lowest spend ever and it is something that we cannot afford to continue. I take this opportunity to call on the Turnbull government to stop the cuts in overseas aid, support the Global Fund in their next replenishment period from 2017 and 2019, and look at increasing and investing in this important work. We cannot afford not to.

Debate adjourned.