Claire Moore (Queensland, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move the following motion standing in the names of Senators Moore, Boyce, Rhiannon and Cash:

That the Senate—

(a) notes that:

(i) 2.5 billion people currently live without access to sanitation, half of these people are women who have nowhere safe to go to the toilet,

(ii) women lacking access to safe toilets are at risk of verbal, physical and sexual violence,

(iii) women are significantly and disproportionately impacted by lack of access to sanitation,

(iv) women in sub-Saharan Africa spend 19 billion hours a year finding a place to go to the toilet,

(v) access to sanitation is a foundation for good health, and women and girls who have no toilet face the additional risks posed by infectious diseases, malnutrition due to repeated diarrhoea and reproductive infections due to poor menstrual hygiene management,

(vi) girls at school require access to a toilet with suitable facilities and privacy for menstrual hygiene management, and without this access, evidence shows that the attendance of girls at school significantly drops impacting upon girls' educational opportunities,

(vii) women's economic opportunities can be significantly reduced as a result of poor access to a toilet as their time and health are impacted, and

(viii) the Australian Government supports the recent Rio+20 outcomes document 'The Future We Want' and its commitments regarding the human right to safe drinking water and sanitation; and

(b) acknowledges Australia's support for the right to water and sanitation.

Question agreed to.