Lisa Singh (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary to the Shadow Attorney General) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That the Senate—

(a) acknowledges that 22 March is World Water Day, an annual day to reflect on the importance of water to the globe;

(b) notes that:

(i) access to clean water and sanitation are foundational to human development, underpinning improvements in health, nutrition, education and gender equality,

(ii) Sustainable Development Goal 6 calls on every person to have access to safe water, sanitation and hygiene by 2030,

(iii) currently more than 650 million people globally do not have access to clean, safe drinking water,

(iv) this issue is particularly pronounced in our region, with only 40 per cent of people in Papua New Guinea, and 72 per cent of people in Timor-Leste, having access to safe drinking water, and

(v) Australia has an opportunity to drive global action on this issue, with Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull one of 10 world leaders on the UN-World Bank's High Level Panel on Water, and with Australia being co-Chair of the Green Climate Fund; and

(c) calls on the Government to reaffirm its commitment to:

(i) Sustainable Development Goal 6,

(ii) the long-term goal of reaching 50 million people with safe drinking water, sanitation and hygiene services through our aid program by 2030, as a measure of our support for the UN-World Bank High Level Panel on Water, and

(iii) using Australia's position as co-chair of the Green Climate Fund to champion the funding of community and household-level water, sanitation and hygiene proposals, as critical climate adaptation initiatives.

Question agreed to.