Steve Irons (Swan, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise today in support of World Plumbing Day, which is coming up next week on 11 March. Last year I spoke about World Plumbing Day in this place, and I am pleased to again raise the awareness of the vital role of plumbing and sanitation in the modern world.

I would also like to acknowledge the former member for Hasluck, Stuart Henry, who is in the chamber. His official role and title now is World Plumbing Council Secretariat. I know he is a great advocate for the WELS and WaterMark programs and represents his association and the master plumbers association extremely well, not only in this place but in industry and all around the world, advocating for the plumbing industry and water.

While I am on this case, I would also like to mention Murray Thomas, who I work closely with in Perth, who is with the Master Plumbers & Gasfitters Association of Western Australia. He works well with the industry and with the parliament in advocating for his industry as well.

I have a bit of a personal connection to plumbing as well. After finishing my apprenticeship as an electrician, I spent six months digging sewers in the Dandenong hills for one of the blokes I played footy with, which was an interesting experience. It got right down to the nitty-gritty of seeing what plumbers do at the lower level of their trade.

Plumbing is something we take for granted in most parts of Australia. It is true that there are still parts of remote Australia without adequate plumbing, and this can be a problem for those very remote communities. Around the globe, poor sanitation is a major cause of disease and impacts life expectancy. According to the World Health Organization, 1.1 billion people do not have access to safe water supplies; 2.6 billion people do not have access to improved sanitation; and 3.1 million children die each year from water related diseases.

When I listen to the debates in this place on poverty, it seems that there is not enough focus on practical things that can be done to tackle poverty overseas. In the past, this has led to misdirected priorities for the foreign aid budget. I can remember that when Kevin Rudd was Prime Minister he used the foreign aid budget to pay for a new parliament house for Granada. It is crazy that we would waste money on something like this for a country high in the human development index rankings. Also former minister Bob Carr spent the foreign aid budget on preserving architectural heritage in Myanmar.

It is great that we talk about all these things but we need to look at the most effective way that we can spend the foreign aid budget. The World Plumbing Association hit the mark when they said:

Attitudes will not necessarily change because of targets, health surveys or editorials and opinions in newspapers, which all too often preach only to the converted. Rather, it is the actions of the professionals working in the areas of health and sanitation which will demonstrate to the community how best to build local services and will educate local communities about the benefits of such an approach.

It is the practical action on the ground that can make a difference. On this note, one of the good initiatives we have seen since the last World Plumbing Day is the international Community Plumbing Challenge, which aims to contribute to improvements to public health in regions where communities are still threatened by a lack of basic sanitation and safe drinking water systems. It is a great initiative run as a partnership between the World Plumbing Council, the International Association of Plumbing and Mechanical Officials and the WorldSkills Foundation. It sees teams of professionals travel to a country or an area with poor sanitation and work to implement solutions. The community based projects address water and sanitation issues identified by community leaders and may involve repairs and maintenance to existing infrastructure, installation of new water and sanitation facilities, and the design of innovative systems aimed at achieving long-term environmental and economic sustainability.

The 2015 challenge took place in Nashik, India, with four teams, including Team Australia, Team Basque, Team India and Team USA. Each team included a plumber; an engineering lead, a water environment technician or architect; a construction lead, a carpenter or bricklayer; and a design lead, a CAD or graphic designer. Works were completed at a local school with the main works including installing new water storage tanks on the school roof, replumbing the water tanks, connecting a new water supply to two toilet areas and a hand-washing area, fixing leaks and completing design work for the other toilets on site.

I commend the organisations and participants for this initiative and hope that the program will continue this year. I am sure that World Plumbing Day 2016 will be a success. I am pleased to once again be able to bring some attention to it in this parliament.