Kate Ellis (Adelaide, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Today I rise to speak about Australia’s aid contributions to developing countries—an issue which is very important to me, an issue which is certainly very important to many of my constituents, and an issue which we as a parliament must make a priority. Under Australia’s present leadership, we have fallen devastatingly and embarrassingly behind in our contributions to official development programs as a percentage of GNP. It is important that we as a parliament think about the hundreds of millions of people who live in extreme poverty around the world.

As a fortunate and wealthy nation, we have a responsibility to act. The UN recommends that Australia should contribute 0.7 per cent of GNP to official development assistance, but, under the Howard government, Australia pledges only 0.3 per cent. Australia is one of many nations which have pledged to contribute 0.7 per cent to official development assistance, but we are still a very long way from meeting this target.

Since it was first pledged 36 years ago, in a 1970 UN General Assembly resolution, the 0.7 per cent target has been affirmed in many international agreements, such as the March 2002 International Conference on Financing for Development in Monterrey, Mexico and at the World Summit on Sustainable Development held in Johannesburg later that year. The UN Millennium Project urges all developed countries to honour their commitment to make concrete efforts towards the target of 0.7 per cent. Australia is one of five developed countries that are yet to set a timetable for the 0.7 per cent target. I call on the government again today to set a timetable that allows for our achievement of this goal before 2015—the UN’s target date for the UN Millennium Development Goals.

Australia must work with developing countries to realise the millennium development goals. They allow developing and developed countries to move beyond the sometimes flawed relationship that has characterised aid in the past. The goals provide a clear vision and a framework for halving extreme poverty by 2015 and for ending it by 2025. I welcome the fact that the government has responded to community pressure and announced that it will increase Australia’s level of development assistance from the embarrassingly low levels to which it has fallen. However, the current proposals do not adequately address the issues that must be overcome in order to combat poverty in the south.

The Australian parliament needs to step up and honour its commitment to the UN, to its constituents and to those living in extreme poverty. This government is lacking strategic focus in its development assistance program. Combating poverty is not only the humane thing to do; it is also in Australia’s national interest. Reducing poverty means a more secure world. This government needs to be both alert and alarmed by the gravity of extreme poverty in our region in particular.

I call on the Australian parliament to step up the fight to end extreme poverty. I would also like to take this opportunity to thank the Make Poverty History campaign for its hard work in our community. (Time expired)