Mark Arbib (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise at this extremely late hour to speak in regard to an organisation and cause that I am proud to support and which I believe should be brought to the parliament’s attention. Micah Challenge Australia is the local arm of a worldwide coalition of Christian agencies, churches, groups, and individuals seeking to deepen our engagement with poor and marginalised communities and to influence the leaders of both rich and poor nations to fulfil their aid commitments. In Australia, Micah Challenge is made up of more than 25 organisations such as Baptist World Aid, Caritas, Compassion and World Vision. The organisation is supported by prominent Australians such as Cardinal George Pell, Reverend Tim Costello and Reverend Dr Gordon Moyes. Micah Challenge believes that our generation is the first to have the resources and the know-how to end absolute poverty for good. All we need is the will to make this happen. This is a view I share and something that I am deeply committed to.

Over the past week in Canberra, the Micah Challenge has held its annual national gathering—Voices for Justice—to coincide with Anti-Poverty Week. Over 250 people, including many young people from around the country, attended the four-day gathering to participate in workshops and to talk about global poverty with federal MPs and senators. Indeed, today I had the pleasure to meet a Micah Challenge delegation of young Australians to discuss with them the work they are doing for their organisation. I would like to thank Hindrick Buining, Rebecca Roberts, Nadia Morom and Adam Urbancic for taking the time to explain their issues with me, and I wish them well in their cause. What impressed me about this group was that, although they were from vastly different backgrounds, they were all committed to a common goal; I must say how inspired I was with their passion, energy and drive for the global cause. I wish more of us shared their passion.

One of the problems the group raised with me was that of improving maternal health. I was particularly impressed by a young man, Adam, a 15-year-old student at Cabramatta High School, who presented me with the basic birthing kit that I have with me tonight. For the aid of Hansard, this is a Chinese takeaway container, but it contains a kit comprised of soap and latex gloves for the birth assistant—to prevent infection to the mother and child; a razor blade—to cut the umbilical cord; and string and a bandage—to tie the cord. Also in the kit was a plastic sheet so that a baby can be delivered on a clean surface. Adam and the delegation quoted figures that showed that basic steps and a basic kit such as this could cut maternal deaths in the developing world by up to two-thirds. This highlights the work that the Micah Challenge is undertaking and that the things we take for granted in this country can make a huge difference.

The United Nations Millennium Declaration states that ending poverty is one of the greatest challenges of our age. Over one billion of our fellow human beings experience daily the abject and dehumanising condition of extreme poverty. Infants die because their parents and communities are too poor to afford basic health care. Women and men suffer from waterborne diseases because they and their communities are too poor to afford clean water and sanitation. World poverty has been a blot on First World countries like Australia for decades and generations. For most of us it is a sense of shame and guilt that will not go away. Governments have failed in providing the leadership necessary to end poverty. It has mostly been left to non-government organisations, and sometimes even to celebrities and entertainers like Bob Geldof or Bono, to raise awareness and take action.

Obviously much more needs to be done in terms of politicians providing the necessary leadership and the resources to confront this issue head on. To this end I was relieved when the United Nations proposed an agreement to deal with poverty in third world countries. In 2000 all 189 member states of the United Nations signed on to the Millennium Development Goals—a set of eight targets that aim to halve world poverty by 2015. The goals are these: first, to eradicate extreme poverty and hunger—a goal aimed at reducing by half the proportion of people living on less than US$1 a day; second, the achievement of universal primary education—something we all take in this country for granted; third, to promote gender equality and empower women—a policy to ensure that girls and women have the same education and opportunities as boys in developing countries; fourth, to reduce child mortality—a measure targeted at reducing infant and child deaths by two-thirds; fifth, the improvement of maternal health—a policy aimed at reducing the proportion of women dying in childbirth; sixth, the combating of HIV-AIDS, malaria and other diseases; seventh, to ensure environmental sustainability takes place at all times; and, eighth, to develop a global partnership for development—this goal addresses issues such as trade, debt, aid and public health, and the promotion of economic growth and poverty reduction. These are lofty goals, but they are achievable. However, these commitments are only as strong as the plan of action behind them, and to this end I am pleased and proud that there has been a change in the way the Australian government now deals with the issues of foreign aid and foreign assistance.

Thankfully, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and the Australian government are serious about global poverty and have responded positively by increasing much needed resources and aid to help the cause. The Treasurer’s budget in May laid the foundation for the government’s commitment to increasing Australian development assistance. In 2008-09 the aid budget is an estimated $3.7 billion, our largest ever investment in reducing poverty. This is an impressive increase of nine per cent on the 2007-08 aid budget. Indeed, Australia’s estimated ratio of aid to gross national income is now 0.32 per cent, which is above the 2007 donor average of 0.28 per cent. That is a good rise. Most importantly, the Prime Minister and the Australian government are determined to increase overseas aid even further, with a goal of providing 0.5 per cent of gross national income by 2015-16.

Progress towards the millennium goals is being made but some countries are doing better than others, and progress is not rapid enough to see all regions achieve all goals by 2015. In Australia’s immediate region, the Asia-Pacific, no country is on track to achieve all the goals by 2015. That is very unfortunate. The Australian government is aware of this slow progress. With this in mind, we have increased our aid budget in Papua New Guinea and the Pacific, and aid will now be based on new mutually agreed targets for development. That is a welcome step.

In closing, I would like to reiterate my support for Micah Challenge Australia, and its members, for the fine work that they are doing. I believe that by working together as a nation, with the support of the Prime Minister and the Australian government, we will take the positive steps that are necessary to meet our millennium development goals and show the world how serious we are about fighting global poverty.