Anne Urquhart (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

At the request of Senator Moore, I move:

That the Senate—

(a) notes that:

  (i) the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) was formed nearly 30 years ago, bringing together Rotary International, the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF) in a common cause: to eradicate polio once and for all,

  (ii) when GPEI commenced, more than 350,000 cases of polio paralysed and killed children in 125 countries annually,

  (iii) in 2016, only 37 cases of polio were recorded in three countries – Pakistan, Afghanistan and Nigeria – two of which are priorities for Australian development assistance, and

  (iv) a funding gap of $US 1.3 billion for implementing the GPEI's current strategic plan needs to be filled to complete the task of polio eradication within the next three years;

(b) acknowledges that:

  (i) investment in completing polio eradication will benefit future generations of children who will be free of this devastating disease, and other health programs and initiatives will benefit from the knowledge and experience gained through polio eradication,

  (ii) completing eradication of polio would be the first concrete success of the Sustainable Development Goals, providing a basis for reaching children with life-saving interventions in the most remote, vulnerable and socially-excluded communities,

  (iii) Commonwealth leaders, including Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, agreed at the latest Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in November 2015 to accelerate action and renew financial support to eradicate polio, and

  (iv) the current Parliaments of Australia and other countries have the opportunity to be the elected representatives who ended polio completely; and

(c) calls on the Australian Government to maintain its annual contribution to GPEI at $15 million in the next two financial years, to follow through on this renewed commitment and assist in making the end of polio a reality.

James McGrath (Queensland, Liberal National Party, Assistant Minister to the Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I seek leave to make a short statement.

Stephen Parry (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

You have been granted leave for one minute.

James McGrath (Queensland, Liberal National Party, Assistant Minister to the Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Australian government is committed to polio eradication, and it has provided $80 million since 2011 to the Global Polio Eradication Initiative to date. Our current four-year polio and routine immunisation commitment includes $36 million to the initiative and $36 million to the World Bank to strengthen immunisation systems in our region to avert the risk of polio re-emerging. The government is not in a position to support paragraph (c) of the motion as it exceeds current commitments. For this reason, we would oppose the motion.

Question agreed to.