Melissa Parke (Fremantle, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Health) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Yesterday I had the pleasure of meeting with four engaging young people from the Micah Challenge, who were in parliament to speak to MPs about the importance of the new sustainable development goals in fighting poverty, addressing inequality and building a more secure, prosperous and sustainable world. They spoke about the success of the MDGs in halving child mortality and significantly reducing maternal mortality, while noting that much remains to be achieved, especially here in our region. In particular, climate change is an existential threat for our Pacific neighbours, and Australia needs to do much more ahead of the Paris climate talks in December than the present inadequate emissions reduction target of 26 to 28 per cent on 2005 levels by 2030, which is almost at the bottom of developed nations. The students also called for action on multinational tax avoidance and the reversal of planned cuts to Australian aid, and for Australia to set a target of 0.7 per cent of GNI by 2030—a modest request, in my view, given that this was a bipartisan target only a few years ago.

Today I also met with representatives of the International Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights Consortium and Marie Stopes International concerning the SDGs—in particular the goals on gender equality and health. I was informed that the health sector, including sexual and reproductive health, has borne much of the brunt of the Australian government's devastating $11 billion cuts to Australian aid. This would appear to be counterproductive given that the evidence indicates that for every $1 invested in sexual and reproductive health there is an economic return of between $20 and $120. Family planning is therefore one of the most cost-effective investments that can be made in global health and development. (Time expired)