Chris Hayes (Fowler, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That this House:

(1) notes that World Humanitarian Day will be observed on 19 August 2019;

(2) pays tribute to the aid workers who risk their lives in humanitarian service, including those who are:

(a) directly targeted;

(b) treated as threats; and

(c) prevented from providing relief;

(3) honours the lives of those aid workers who have been killed while bringing relief and care to those in desperate need;

(4) acknowledges the millions of civilians affected by armed conflict every day, including those who struggle to access food, water, safe shelter and crucial medical assistance;

(5) further notes that the United Nations estimates that record numbers of over 65 million people are displaced from their homes around the world due to conflict;

(6) notes the Government's $11 billion in cuts to foreign aid, rendering Australia's international aid contribution as a percentage of gross domestic product at the lowest recorded level; and

(7) calls on the Government to rebuild Australia's International Development Assistance Program and increase aid investment beyond current levels.

Life's most persistent and urgent question is: what are we doing for others? That was the question posed by Martin Luther King, which succinctly puts into perspective the very reason why so many dedicated people around the world are working on humanitarian causes. I move this motion in commemoration of World Humanitarian Day, the day that the international community unites to recognise the significant work of various organisations and their people in providing humanitarian relief around the globe.

While we often reflect on the efforts of our service personnel in peacekeeping roles abroad, it is very important that we also recognise the selfless contribution of civilians on the front line in various parts of the world. For the millions of people caught up in crises and natural disasters, the families who are forced to flee their homes for uncertain futures, the vulnerable groups which are systematically targeted and, importantly, the children whose future has been placed on hold, on this day and on their behalf we pay tribute to the many aid workers who risk their lives in serving people in need. We also honour the lives of those aid workers who have been killed while bringing relief and care to those in desperate need. In particular on World Humanitarian Day, we honour the significant role that women play in the crises across the world. They are the unsung heroes who have long been working on the front lines to save others in some of the most high-risk environments. As parliamentarians we must work to ensure that they and all humanitarian workers are afforded the protections that they are so entitled to under international law.

This year's commemoration marks 16 years since the attack on the United Nations office in Baghdad, in which the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Sergio Vieira de Mello, and 21 other fellow humanitarian workers lost their lives in the service of peace, development and human rights. Since that tragedy, which led to the designation of World Humanitarian Day on 19 August, the United Nations estimates that over 4,000 aid workers have been killed, injured, detained or kidnapped. That's an average of 300 humanitarian aid workers killed, detained or injured every year.

Around the world, in conflict zones in countries including Afghanistan, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Iraq, Somalia and Yemen, we're seeing people being forced in record numbers from their homes, with more than 65 million people now displaced, according to recent statistics by the United Nations. These statistics put in perspective the pressing need for action in regard to Australia's role in provision of international aid. The government's $11.3 billion cuts to the Australian aid budget have delivered the weakest level of Australian development assistance in history. Our common humanity demands bipartisan commitment to this matter. We should be working towards increasing our contributions to at least 0.5 per cent of our gross national income to keep pace with other developed nations.

On World Humanitarian Day, we pay tribute to all those aid workers who have lost their lives in the service of peace, we honour their sacrifice, we mourn with their families and we carry forward their memory as we strive to resolve and prevent armed conflict and work towards a prosperous and peaceful world for all. I take this opportunity to thank all those aid organisations working across the globe in some of the most difficult conditions and environments. In particular, I acknowledge the great work of Save the Children, Oxfam, UNICEF, APHEDA, World Vision, Caritas and many, many others and the immense amount of work they do to bring relief and aid to those in need in various vastly challenged areas of our globe.

I conclude with the words of the late Sergio Vieira de Mello, which resonate strongly amidst today's climate of uncertainty and turmoil:

… security can and must be guided by upholding the rule of law and respecting human rights.

Rob Mitchell (McEwen, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Is the motion seconded?

Julian Leeser (Berowra, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I second the motion. I want to use my contribution to this debate to talk about some of the people and organisations in my own community who engage in humanitarian aid. These are often people who come and see us to lobby members of parliament about increases to the aid budget but they are very often also people who put themselves in harm's way, who raise money for aid projects around the world and who are there to benefit mankind. Many of the organisations that come and see me are Christian organisations whose basis for working in the aid sector comes from the Gospel of Matthew, that they should love their neighbour, that they are called to love and serve the least of their brothers and that loving our neighbour extends to our neighbours all around the world.

Since I've been a member of parliament, I've been regularly visited by representatives of the Thornleigh Community Baptist Church on issues of foreign aid, whether that's been about the quantum or where that aid is being directed. That church has shown a particularly strong interest in all aspects of aid policy from raising funds to engaging in active volunteering projects. They've spoken to me and other MPs and participated in the Voices for Justice conference hosted by Micah Australia in Canberra each year, where hundreds of Christians come to advocate on behalf of the global poor for increases in aid. This year, the Thornleigh Community Baptist Church also raised over $40,000 for its Christmas appeal. Last year, the funds went to the food crisis in Yemen and East Africa, drought relief in rural New South Wales and the establishment of a free community legal clinic. Every May, the Thornleigh Community Baptist Church raises over $40,000 for mission work around the world, including audiology clinics in the Pacific Islands, vocational training centres in Indonesia and leadership development training in the Middle East.

The TCBC are very proud of their education project in the Solomon Islands. For the past four years, their young adults aged 18 to 30 have partnered with a village in East Honiara in the Solomons to establish an early education centre. They've focused on empowering and financially supporting gifted local female teachers to make their vision of education for all in their community a reality. The centre has 70 students, aged three to seven, who mostly come from poor families with illiterate parents. Usually they'd miss out on the most basic education as children, and struggle to keep up at primary school, with many dropping out before the age of 12. This school is greatly improving the educational prospects of poor children in the Solomons and helping them break the cycle of poverty. Every year, TCBC's youth pastor, Todd Darvas, who is one of the most impressive leaders I've met in our community, leads a team of young adults in their first year out of high school to visit the school. These teams have raised over $20,000 in four years to support the school, which is about to build three new classrooms and grow their impact in the community.

I'd also like to pay tribute to the work of Rotary in East Timor, led by the chair of the Rotary education training group, Theo Glockemann OAM, who is a member of the Rotary Club of Pennant Hills. Rotary operates two residential leadership programs for young people, and they're well known to members: Rotary Youth Leadership Award for adults under 26, and Rotary Youth Program of Enrichment for school leavers facing unemployment and challenging futures. Shortly after Timor gained independence in 2002, Theo brought together selected Timorese students to Sydney for our district RYLA program. After a core of Timorese delegates had a RYLA experience, Theo and his team decided to export RYLA to Timor, as leadership is absolutely critical to that country's future. They raised funds from within Rotary in 2010 and 2011; however, it became apparent that, without a sponsor, the work would not be sustainable. In 2012, Theo Glockemann secured the sponsorship of Woodside Energy and its joint venture partners Shell, ConocoPhillips and Osaka Gas, and they've sponsored the program ever since.

The program has equipped many young East Timorese with the knowledge and skills to step into leadership roles in industry and civil society. Since 2010, there have been 1,000 RYLA alumni, over 300 of whom continue to study at university; over 160 have full-time jobs, many in leadership positions. Timor RYLA is now 95 per cent managed by its own trained facilitator team and receives over 800 applications every year. RYPEN has seen similar growth since it started in 2013, and is running in multiple districts in Timor. These successful programs represent an immense opportunity for young people in Timor to make a future for themselves. I want to acknowledge Angelo Raveane, David Boyce, Eddie Pinto and other members, 14 Rotary clubs strong, whom Theo has led to Timor every year since 2008, along with an army of East Timorese volunteers.

It is a great opportunity today, presented by the member for Fowler, to draw attention to two of the community organisations in our electorate that are making a real difference to the world through their participation in aid programs.

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

We live in a period of unprecedented turmoil. Every day, in dozens of countries, humanitarian crises are unfolding, with millions of people being impacted. Across the globe, 65 million people are displaced from their homes as a result of conflict. According to last year's Global Humanitarian Overview, 134 million people needed humanitarian assistance and protection.

That's why the United Nations has designated 19 August as World Humanitarian Day, a day to remember the devastating human cost of conflict and disaster across the planet and the critical role that humanitarian action plays. It's also a day to pay tribute to humanitarian workers for their incredible contributions. They place themselves in the path of danger, often at great personal risk, in order to help others in need. This year, World Humanitarian Day is particularly focused on celebrating women humanitarian workers. A large number of global humanitarian workers are women. They are amongst the first to respond to and the last to leave a crisis. I am very glad that, this year, they're being recognised for their contribution.

I was privileged enough to see the positive impacts of aid work firsthand when I visited Bangladesh back in November 2017 at the invitation of humanitarian organisations CARE Australia and Oxfam. At that stage, more than 700,000 Rohingya people, mostly women and children, were fleeing violence and persecution in Myanmar, and walking en masse across the border into Bangladesh in order to seek protection. This mass exodus from Myanmar, over a very short period of time, saw the rise of some massively overcrowded refugee camps throughout Cox's Bazar. There were thousands of traumatised people living in cramped, makeshift camps stretching out for kilometres—as far as the eye can see—and this was one of the most confronting sights I've ever encountered. The concentration of refugees in Cox's Bazar is amongst the densest in the world. There are more Rohingya people living in Bangladesh than their homeland of Myanmar.

Cox's Bazar also gave me some really unique insights into the work of humanitarian aid workers, which surely must be the most noble of all professions. The women I saw undertaking the work at the women's-only clinics were a really important part of the work being done in Cox's Bazar, ensuring the health and wellbeing of mothers and children. As I said, more than half of the refugee population of Cox's Bazar were, indeed, children. The women aid workers played a role in that really critical time when there was a need for great protection of women and children, who had already been subject to some of the most gross forms of violence that you could imagine. The women were an essential part of ensuring that those services were properly targeted. At that time, when so many people were arriving, the trust of having those women there was absolutely essential.

But none of those efforts could have happened without funding. Last year the United Nations estimated that we needed more than $25 billion across the globe to help more than 100 million people who were in need. The actual amount that was spent was just $15 billion, a shortfall of almost half of what was needed. That means not enough is actually being done. Regretfully, Australia is one of the worst offenders here. In 2008, in his very first speech in this House, the Prime Minister, Scott Morrison, praised the government for increasing foreign aid, adding that Australia, 'still must go further'. He went on to condemn the fact that the global aid budget was only a third of what was needed saying:

This leaves a sizeable gap. The need is not diminishing, nor can our support. It is the Australian thing to do.

It's hard to imagine, but this man who spoke with such passion and strength about the importance of aid is the same man who supported more than $11 billion of cuts into Australia's aid budget since the Liberals came to power. Indeed, many of those cuts were at his own hand when he was the Treasurer. And as Prime Minister he oversaw a further $115 million cuts in the last April budget. It is time that those opposite stood up and started acting like a responsible government by reversing some of the damage that they have done by cutting our overseas aid budget.

Julian Hill (Bruce, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Fowler for moving this motion and bringing this debate to parliament. World Humanitarian Day, 19 August, is one of many United Nations days which are there to encourage the global community to celebrate certain achievements and to educate people, but also, importantly, to mobilise political will and resources to address common global problems.

There is two purposes for this day and I'll touch on each. The first purpose is to pay tribute to aid workers across the world who risk their lives in humanitarian service. We heard the shocking statistic that every year at least 300 aid workers are killed, detained or injured just for going about their jobs. They're unsung heroes and often women. Societies across the world always laud military service and that's appropriate. We had a debate earlier today in this chamber about those who serve—the sacrifice and the ideals that that represents—putting their lives at risk, and that is appropriate. It's visible and it's understood. Of course, there is a darker side of nationalism if that's overdone in some societies, but I think we get the balance right in Australia.

We must take care not to forget other forms of service where people's lives are also at risk. The situation globally is the gravest since World War II. We have more than $65 million people displaced in the world due to conflict, who are unable to live in their homes. Millions are caught in conflict zones, living in conflict zones, in Afghanistan, the Central African Republic, South Sudan, Syria and Yemen, just to name a few. They struggle to access food, water, safe shelter or medical assistance. Providing aid and help to people in these areas is, of course, dangerous work. Shockingly, aid workers are directly targeted by combatants, treated as threats by many to their political objectives and harassed or prevented from going about their life saving work. I think it's fair to say we can all agree on that part.

The second purpose of World Humanitarian Day is to rally support for people affected by crises globally. It is not just war or violent conflict or humanitarian disasters but it's all of the other things we see across the Asia-Pacific—330 million people are living in extreme poverty and 1.5 billion people are still unable to access safe sanitation or water and are malnourished. In a civilised world, in a decent world and in a safe world I think we would face up to this reality and not accept global poverty at this level. People are starving. They have no prospects of fulfilling their human potential. This requires more than words. It requires nations, those in a position to do so, to be generous and play their part.

In that context, I rise to condemn this Liberal government's $11.3 billion cuts to the Australia's International Development Assistance Program. It says everything you need to know that despite the member for Newcastle, quoting the Prime Minister in his first speech to parliament, applauding a rise in the aid budget, this government, under this Prime Minister, has cut $11.3 billion. They can't even fill the speakers list for this debate. They've got three speaking slots on this motion and yet they had one bloke turn up and talk about stuff that's done in his electorate. I noticed—listening to the member for Berowra, who made a lovely speech there—he talked about people who come to his office and talk about the quantum of the aid budget. What he meant by that is cuts. It's the Christian church organisations like Micah—that fantastic organisation that pushes these values—that are in their offices calling them out for record cuts that they've made to the aid budget. Australians and the government should be ashamed that our level of investment in the region and, more importantly, globally, is at the lowest level on record.

You talk to people in the community and they say, 'Charity begins at home,' but that is said with an impression that we're somehow handing out most of our national wealth and giving it away in cheques. The fact is we now give around 20c in every hundred dollars. We're one of the wealthiest nations in the world and around 20c in every hundred dollars is all this government can find to deal with the people in the world living in the most extreme poverty. The government should be ashamed. I believe we can do better than 20c in every hundred dollars.

In closing, I'll summarise the reasons I think this is important. Firstly, this is who we are as a people. We have a proud history in Australia of doing our bit in the region and of not forgetting our debts from World War II to East Timor and Papua New Guinea and our neighbours. Secondly, it's good international citizenship and—this may resonate more with the people over there—it's in our national interest. It is one of the four key pillars of our foreign engagement, alongside defence, foreign policy and trade. (Time expired)

Steve Georganas (Adelaide, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

There being no further speakers, the debate is adjourned and the resumption of the debate will be made an order of the day for the next sitting.