Perin Davey (NSW, National Party, Shadow Minister for Water) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak about my experience on a recent Australian Regional Leadership Initiative tour, hosted by Save the Children and funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, which I undertook to Fiji. These tours are an initiative of Save the Children Australia and their aim is to educate politicians from all parties—or Independents, minor parties; it doesn't matter—on where Australian support, regional development funds and Australian aid is going and the benefits that are achieved from that. I can't speak highly enough about my experience on this tour. It was an absolute eye-opener for me. Obviously, I'm very aware of the money Australia provides to overseas partners and nations to support their development, to support their growth and to also support them in their times of need following crisis and emergency. I've never begrudged that funding. I believe that it is important as a global citizen to be very active in that space. But to get to witness firsthand the results of this expenditure was incredibly humbling, and I want to talk about a few of the experiences we undertook.

One of the first stops we had was to the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat in Suva—and we saw the Pacific Islands Forum the week before very much front and centre of the news. We got a presentation about the development and the adoption of the 2050 Blue Pacific strategy, which is a strategy that brings together the Pacific Islands Forum nations to recognise that the region, encompassing the oceans, the lands, the landscapes and the environment, needs to work together to not only see continued peace and harmony but also recognise opportunities in the region and to work together to maximise those benefits instead of working in silos. It was a very good initiative, and I look forward to watching how that strategy is implemented.

We also got to spend time with the Australia Pacific Training Coalition, who are currently training a cohort of aged-care workers to come to Australia to work under the Pacific Australia Labour Mobility scheme. I know, from my experience in agriculture, that the Pacific Australia Labour Mobility scheme is widely applauded, widely supported by employers in Australia, and to see this young cohort ready and raring to get into the regions to work in our aged-care sector was very exciting indeed. These students from all over Fiji—and there were 30 of them—undertake 12 weeks of theoretical learning there in Suva. Then they come to Australia to jobs that have already been identified to undertake their 12 weeks of on-the-job training, and then they're a qualified aged-care worker. They come out with a cert III. But under the PALM scheme they can stay in Australia for three years and earn money. They send some of their earnings home. It supports their home communities. It supports their families. It supports them. They go home with a qualification and life experience, and each and every one of them was so excited about the experience before them.

During the trip, the Australian high commission also coordinated for the female politicians on the trip—me; the member for Indi, Helen Haines; and fellow Victorian Senator Jess Walsh—an opportunity to meet with female candidates for the upcoming Fijian election. It has been identified in Fiji that they would like to see more women in politics. For these candidates to see a bipartisan approach from the three of us and to hear our experiences in politics and how important it is that we strive to attract more incredibly qualified and smart women into that area—I thank the high commission for coordinating that. It was a really good opportunity. My only complaint was that we ran out of time, unfortunately.

I also met with incredible women in business over there, like Kata from Kaybee farms outside Suva. She is the only female aquaculturalist in Fiji. She breeds tilapia for commercial markets, but she's also an integrated farmer. She's got her aquaculture with the tilapia, she grows taro, she grows cassava and she grows pumpkins. She's got an outstanding operation on only five hectares. With five hectares of land, she is a fully commercial operator, employing local people and also empowering other women and training other women to be businesswomen in Fiji.

We then travelled up to Vanua Levu, where we got to meet some of the victims of Cyclone Yasa and hear firsthand from them about their experiences at—I'm probably going to pronounce it wrong—the Nabavatu settlement, which is still a tent village. These people's village was absolutely flattened as a result of Cyclone Yasa a couple of years ago. They're currently living in tents provided by Australian aid, and they're very grateful for those tents. The sense of community in this village was absolutely beautiful. The people are living the simplest of lives out of necessity, because they're in tents. They no longer have a power supply, because the generator they were provided was needed for the next emergency that came up, but they are making the most of being together and being in that circumstance.

Save the Children also established a $300 grant to the victims of Cyclone Yasa, and we heard firsthand from these people what a difference just $300 made to them. We saw their excitement at seeing a delegation of Australian politicians who'd gone off the tourist track—who'd gone out of the way into this village to actually meet with them and to shake their hands and to break bread with them. They were absolutely thrilled. They had just three asks, which I was totally humbled by. They asked if we could potentially support them to get some solar panels so they could get power to the village. They asked, if at all possible, if they could get a couple of new tarpaulins for some of the tents that were in decline, and they asked for our support to help advocate. They have all the building materials they need, which they collected following the cyclone. They have the will and the want to rebuild their village, and they've even located a site. They're just waiting for the final sign-off from the Fijian government, and then they will proudly re-establish their community.

We also met a young boy in Lekutu who was also a recipient of the $300 grants. Young fellas—if I'd given my children $300, it would probably be spent in a matter of days! This kid set up a business. He recognised that the closest barber shop was a two-hour trip away, so he took his $300 and established a very successful business. Now the men of his village can get their hair cut without having to travel days.

The work Australia is doing in the Pacific, the work the Save the Children foundation is doing in the Pacific and the work other aid agencies are doing is phenomenal. I don't call it aid. I don't call it welfare. I call it partnership. I call it development. And I encourage everyone who gets invited to go on one of these trips to take the offer.