Darren Cheeseman (Corangamite, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise today to speak after receiving a number of letters from members of the Anglesea and Grovedale Baptist congregations in my electorate of Corangamite. I congratulate the congregations for their concerns and thoughts about people in the developing world and the need for Australia to play a significant role in helping to provide better health conditions for their children. It is fantastic to see local people doing such good work in my electorate.

The federal government is committed to providing funding for the improvement of health care in the developing world. The federal government will spend an estimated $595 million or around 16 per cent of the total aid program on health in developing countries. Of this funding, 27 per cent will be aimed at sexually transmitted diseases such as HIV-AIDS. This will hopefully help so that fewer babies will be born with such diseases and there will be an improvement in life expectancy of adults with HIV. Therefore, this aid should enable parents with HIV to live longer and more active lives with their children.

The federal government has committed around 21 per cent of its overseas aid budget to basic health for the developing world. This aid will provide such things as more doctors and nurses on the ground to give basic care for children in developing countries. The federal government will also provide an estimated 21 per cent to control infectious diseases. This will directly benefit children by providing them with immunisation to diseases that the developed world would never consider a risk to their children.

It is Labor, when in government, that provides more funding for foreign aid to enable developing countries to better their health systems and so give their children a better chance to succeed due to their being much healthier. The Rudd government has increased the health aid budget by $155 million or three per cent since the last budget was handed down by the previous Howard government in 2007. The Rudd government is acutely aware of the need for Australia to play a major role in aid in the developing world.

The government has committed to increase Australia’s official development assistance to a gross national income ratio of 0.5 per cent by 2015-16. The Millennium Development Goals agreed at the United Nations summit in 2000 provide a focus for international efforts to reduce global poverty by 2015. The Australian government is committed to the Millennium Development Goals and has brought them to the centre of Australia’s aid program. Three of the MDGs, Nos 4, 5 and 6, focus specifically on health issues.

As the aid program grows, it is expected that health spending will also continue to grow. The Australian federal government understands the responsibility that the developed world has in helping undeveloped countries provide for their people with better access to health care. I personally understand that all governments in the developed world have to continue to lift their standards of health for developing countries. Australia is no different. Thus we have to endeavour to continue raising our efforts in supporting and helping the developing world provide better health conditions for their children.

I conclude by thanking the Anglesea Baptist Congregation and the Grovedale Baptist Congregation in fighting the battle for the less fortunate. I give my personal assurance that I will actively continue to pursue these matters in this place. I encourage the Anglesea and Grovedale Baptist congregations to continue their efforts in securing aid for the developed world. I thank the House.