Alicia Payne (Canberra, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise today to speak about the unfolding humanitarian crisis in Africa right now. In 2019, 135 million people were facing acute food insecurity. Today, that number has exploded to 345 million. Fifty million people in 45 countries are now on the verge of famine, and 10,000 children are dying every day of hunger. The reality of COVID, conflict, climate induced drought and the inability to import grain from Ukraine has made a bad situation so much more dangerous. In countries such as Somalia, 90 per cent of their grain comes directly from Ukraine.

This century, famine has been declared twice. The first time, in Somalia in 2011, the global response was far too slow. By the time famine was declared, more than 100,000 people had already died. The second was in Sudan in 2017, when the response was faster and the damage was limited.

Today I met with the Micah women's delegation. They and other humanitarian organisations, such as Oxfam and World Vision, are calling on the government to commit $150 million to prevent famine. Their message is simple: if we act now, we'll save lives. Australia must act, and we must act now.