Bob Carr (NSW, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

I have just had the privilege today of launching in Australia the State of World Population 2012 report. I did this with the Executive Director of the United Nations Population Fund. We discussed, among other things, the plight of many women and girls around the world and we both highlighted the importance of family planning. That is because it is estimated that access to family planning would result in about 22 million fewer unplanned births and about 150,000 fewer maternal deaths each year. Making voluntary family planning available to women would reduce costs for maternal and newborn healthcare by $11.3 billion annually. These savings could put young people in schools, help people to grow food and improve access to water and sanitation.

Women should have the right to choose when and how many children to have and the space between them. Planning pregnancies reduces maternal and child deaths. Women having fewer children are healthier and more likely to be able to afford and get access to health services. If every woman were able to leave at least a two-year gap between a birth and a subsequent pregnancy, deaths of children under five would fall by an estimated 13 per cent. That is one reason in July we committed to double funding for family planning to $50 million per year by 2016. It was only $26 million in 2010, but it will reach $50 billion by 2016—that is the Australian contribution to funding for family planning, making good on the indefensible cuts during the Howard years. The retreat from this responsibility during the Howard years is now corrected by policies that are sound and good. (Time expired)