Concetta Fierravanti-Wells (NSW, Liberal Party, Minister for International Development and the Pacific) Share this | Hansard source

I thank Senator Williams for this question. This is an important question in the last sitting week before Anzac Day, and of course this year we commemorate the 75th anniversary of the Kokoda campaign. Australia plays a key role in protecting and preserving the Kokoda Track region, through our Kokoda Initiative. This is an initiative in partnership with the government of Papua New Guinea. We have committed $25 million, over the next five years to 2020, to keep the track open and safe.

I would like to share with the Senate some of the achievements of the Kokoda Initiative. We have provided upgrades to road links, to the Kokoda air strip and to the VHF radio network covering the track. We have also provided support for the Kokoda Track Authority, its track maintenance activities and a reinvigorated ranger program. We have funded 39 village health volunteers, who provide basic health services to 91 villages; this has benefited over 15,000 people. We have administered over 5,000 vaccines to children under the age of five. We have provided antenatal checks to more than 1,200 mothers. We have trained 88 elementary schoolteachers and primary schoolteachers, which has improved learning outcomes for over 1,900 students. The achievements through this partnership have also built or renovated 15 double classrooms, 16 teacher's houses, five health posts and 35 water and sanitation facilities. All of these things have enhanced the quality and life of local communities across a whole range of areas—environmental, cultural, military heritage, health and education— (Time expired)