Nick Xenophon (SA, Independent) Share this | Hansard source

I rise tonight to speak on an issue that is close to my heart and something that a number of my colleagues in the Senate and the House have spoken about this week. I am sure many of us here and many people visiting and working at Parliament House would have noticed the giant toilet on the lawns earlier this week. I am sure many jokes could be made about politicians and excrement but, for once, I will resist the opportunity, as what I wish to speak about today is a very important and very timely issue.

Earlier this week, I had the pleasure of meeting with six inspirational South Australians who were in Canberra as part of the sixth annual national gathering of the Micah Challenge: Voices for Justice 2011. Meeting with Micah Challenge representatives is something I have done in the past and something I hope to continue doing in the future. I do not doubt that some of these energetic and inspirational campaigners will continue to play important roles in years to come.

One of the things that was said to me during my meeting with Micah Challenge representatives—Ben Clarke, Karen Ey, Maree Naroba, Simon Watson and Roger Burton—was that they were here not to represent themselves but to represent the people who do not have a voice. That really resonates with me. These people come from all walks of life. There are pastors and teachers, and there was even a software developer in the mix. They have taken time out of their busy lives to rally us, their elected representatives, into doing our bit to eradicate global poverty.

There are 1.4 billion people living in extreme poverty today. That means they have less than US$1.25 a day on which to survive. Over a decade ago, in the year 2000, world leaders met to discuss how we could eradicate poverty. Out of that meeting came the establishment of the Millennium Development Goals, targets that together have the potential to halve income poverty and improve health standards dramatically by 2015. The goals are to eradicate extreme poverty and hunger; to achieve universal primary education; to promote gender equality and empower women; to reduce child mortality; to improve maternal health; to combat HIV-AIDS, including the use of retroviral medication to combat malaria and other diseases; to ensure environmental sustainability; and to develop a global partnership for development.

But the question remains: why the big toilet? Of all the Millennium Development Goals, the one we are least likely to achieve in its entirety by 2015 is clause 7C—that is, to halve the proportion of the population without sustainable access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation. According to the United Nations, the world is on track to meet the drinking water target, although supply of safe water still remains a challenge in many parts of the developing world.

As it stands, approximately 50 per cent of the population in developing nations does not have access to basic facilities for the safe disposal of human urine and faeces; 2.6 billion people around the world do not have access to a toilet. I have said this before, but these people are not seeking lavish bathrooms with marble benchtops and expensive fixtures; they just need to have a toilet. This in turn would help halt the spread of bacteria and disease in human faeces when people are forced to defecate on the street. The World Health Organisation estimates that by providing access to clean water and sanitation 28 per cent of all child deaths could be avoided—and that is literally millions of lives that could be saved, millions of young children who could live, who could have a fighting chance at life.

The giant toilet and the queue that surrounded it on Tuesday reiterated just how many people around are, as the Voices for Justice slogan says, 'Dying for a dunny'. If current trends are anything to go by, the sanitation target will not be met in developing regions until 2037—that is, 22 years late. This target will not be met in sub-Saharan Africa until early in the 22nd century, and at current rates it will never be met in Oceania.

I spoke in this chamber a few years ago and asked a question of the then relevant Minister representing the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Senator Faulkner, about the 0.7 per cent millennium goal target. I even displayed a T-shirt saying 'Kevin 0.7'. That was in a different time! While things may have since changed a bit in the corridors of power, the issue raised back then is equally as pertinent today. Back in 2000, at the Millennium Summit, each developed nation was asked to give 0.7 per cent of its gross domestic product towards achieving this goal. Australia gave 0.32 per cent of its gross national income in 2008-09 to aid efforts. That works out to about $3.30 in taxes from each of us—or about the cost of cup of coffee per person. While that is still several billion dollars a year, it is still $3.30, about the cost of a cup of coffee for all of us on a daily basis. It is pretty minuscule when you put it in those terms.

Australia's net foreign aid is set to increase from 0.33 per cent of gross national income in 2010-11 to 0.35 per cent of GNI in 2011-12. As it stands, by 2015-16 the annual aid figure is estimated to reach 0.5 per cent, or a total of anywhere between $8 billion and $9 billion. But that still leaves Australia lagging behind many other developed nations, including Sweden, Norway, Ireland, France, Germany and Canada. Even the UK has pledged to lift its aid spending to 0.7 per cent by 2015, despite the fact that the impact of the global financial crisis has been much greater there than in Australia. We must do better.

According to the Micah Challenge, to achieve the international aid target of 0.7 per cent of GNI we will require an additional $2.6 billion by 2015-16.The difference between 0.5 per cent and 0.7 per cent is not small change, by any means, but this is a big country with a big heart and I would plead to those who may be listening, to those who think this is not a good use of our money, that I think it is, for a whole range of reasons—for the lives that will be saved, for the difference it will make to our neighbours, for the difference it will make globally. And, whilst we are doing it for the right reasons—to reduce premature deaths, to reduce poverty, to improve health and sanitation around the world—those countries that are lifted out of poverty are also our future trading nations in years to come. Lifting them out of poverty makes long-term good economic sense. That is a collateral benefit, but the primary benefit must be humanitarian—that should be our motive.

For every $1 we spend on providing these people with clean water and sanitation, $8 is paid back into their economy. My friends at Micah Challenge also tell me that the net benefit of achieving universal access to sanitation and drinking water is approximately $171 billion. That is the benefit. Access to clean water and effective sanitation substantially reduces the incidences of child death from diarrhoea, malnutrition and pneumonia. It is a very good use of that aid money. Diarrhoea claims the lives of 1.3 million children under five each year—a toll greater than malaria, measles and AIDS combined. In other words, close to the population of my home state of South Australia, of children, die every year because of something so avoidable. Pneumonia, often spread through skin-on-skin contact from unwashed hands, is the second-largest killer of children under five. Malnutrition, often caused by the aforementioned diarrhoea and also roundworm, claims the lives of approximately 950,000 children each year.

We must strive to achieve this 0.7 per cent target and to ensure that this money is spent on one of the most cost-effective, and effective, ways of making a difference to people's lives, to the lives of young children—that is, sanitation. At the end of the day we can debate endlessly about our nation's fiscal position and about the pressures of the global financial crisis, but we cannot forget our responsibilities to work towards this goal. I commend the work of the Micah Challenge and thank its representatives for taking the time to visit Canberra this week. To my friends at Micah Challenge, I say: hopefully, we will have some good news for you all next time you visit. Thank you.