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

My question is to the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Senator Bob Carr. Can the minister update the Senate on the release of the United Nations Population Fund's State of World Population report?

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

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

Mr President, I have a supplementary question. Can the minister update the Senate on maternal health issues in our neighbours, the Asia-Pacific region?

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

Forty per cent of global maternal deaths occur in the Asia-Pacific region. A woman in Papua New Guinea is 80 times more likely to die in pregnancy or childbirth than a woman in Australia. I learnt this morning, talking to the executive director, that 700 mothers die per 100,000 births in Papua New Guinea. That is an appalling indicator. An Indonesian woman is 30 times more likely to die in childbirth than a woman in Australia. In our region, 140 million women aged between 15 and 49 do not have access to modern family planning.

Australia's aid, however, is making a difference. I think all Australians can be proud of the fact that, in parts of Indonesia, AusAID support helped reduce maternal deaths by 40 per cent between 2008 and 2011. In Bougainville, in Papua New Guinea, AusAID programs helped halve maternal deaths between 2005 and 2009. (Time expired)

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

Can the minister advise what the Australian government is doing to support Australian family planning and maternal health?

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

Today I announce that Australia will provide up to $70 million to the UN's Population Fund over the next four years. This is on top of the $86 million we have given over the last four years. That funding over the last four years has helped the UNFPA to train 834 midwives to go to remote parts of Cambodia, to train 72 doctors in obstetrics in the Palestinian territories, and to equip 75 health centres with obstetric equipment in Kiribati. This new funding will help UNFPA continue this work in over 46 developing countries. This figure stands out and I think that, again, Australians can be proud of it. It will improve access to family planning services for 222 million women. It will train hundreds more midwives and doctors and thousands of sexual health counsellors in places as diverse as Pakistan, the Palestinian territories and— (Time expired)