David Van (Victoria, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Welcome back, Madam Acting Deputy President. Last year I rose to speak about why our defence forces should be proud of their efforts in Afghanistan. Today I rise to speak of the humanitarian crisis that has been unfolding there since the Taliban took control of the country again. There are 24 million Afghans in need of humanitarian assistance—more than half of the population—including 13 million children. As a result, Afghanistan now has the highest number of people in emergency food insecurity in the world; over one million Afghan children are at risk of dying due to severe malnutrition.

Australia's commitment of $100 million in humanitarian assistance should be one we are proud of, but this should be delivered through the World Food Programme, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs and the United Nations Population Fund. It is these multilateral organisations that are best placed to address the humanitarian crisis. Some small NGOs have good local access in some parts of the country, but they can only do so much due to the precarious security environment, and we do not want to put their people at risk of further harm. Yes, there are criticisms of how slow the UN and WFP have been to get aid to the Afghan people, and, yes, they need to do more, but a two-track process is not the answer. The Australian government is not willing to put people at further risk.

NGOs are used to working with the UN and should be encouraging them to get aid moving faster. The UN can use peacekeeping forces if necessary to ensure aid gets to the people. I thank the NGOs for their brave work and encourage them to work with the UN WFP, not separately from it.