Jess Walsh (Victoria, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

This month I travelled to Fiji as part of a cross-party delegation to better understand our place in the Pacific family, and from five days of meetings in villages, farms, markets, women's health centres, training schools and boardrooms across Fiji I want to share just two lessons: first, that Australia's commitment to build our Pacific family matters; and second, that strong women are the heart and soul of successful communities in Fiji and our Australian aid programs are supporting these women to build a better future.

First, building our Pacific family matters. It matters to the Secretary General of the Pacific Islands Forum, Mr Henry Puna, who so generously gave us his time, and it matters just as much to the local village leaders in remote communities we met as well. Everywhere that we went Fijians spoke to us as family and they welcomed us with open arms. The communities who had the least gave the most, offering food and friendship, sharing their stories and wishing us well. Whether we were meeting in boardrooms or on hillsides with communities the message to our parliamentary delegation was the same everywhere, and that was that climate change is the number one issue in Fiji, it's the number one challenge and as part of our big blue Pacific family Australia must act. One local leader spelled it out loud and clear to us. We were meeting him in his community in Lekutu, an area devastated by Cyclone Yasa just 18 months ago, but the community were still living in tents, in damp and uncomfortable positions with their families, waiting for new homes to be built. A program run by Save the Children Australia under the Australian Humanitarian Partnership had delivered much-needed $300 emergency cash payments to thousands of people, but during a meeting in the camp this leader told us, 'We are not cyclone refugees; we are climate refugees.' Fiji need Australia to act on climate, and they welcome the new steps forward of the Australian government to do just that.

Second, strong women are the heart and soul of effective communities in Fiji, and Australian aid projects make a real difference to their lives. Projects for women to share and sell traditional crafts, continuing their cultures for future generations while generating income and independence, are absolutely critical to women's economic security. In Labasa the local market has been transformed into a safe environment for women not only to run their businesses but also to sleep safely at night. These women transport their goods to market initially by horse to main roads where they catch buses into town. Until the Markets for Change program rebuilt their market to include some room for overnight accommodation they were having to sleep in bus shelters, uncomfortable and unsafe. Now they have the opportunity to thrive, and they are. So too do women in Savusavu town, who have benefited from help to build a great hall, the Ra Marama hall, to come together and share and sell their crafts. Overcoming distance to remote communities is a key feature of Australian aid projects in Fiji, whether it is supporting nurses who serve village women, crossing rivers travelling by horseback and by foot to reach those women in need, or specific medical services to support women and children who are the victims of sexual violence across Fiji. All of these programs are proudly supported by Australia and by Australians, and our aid programs are changing lives by helping Fiji's women reach their own amazing potential.

I want to extend huge thanks to Save the Children for inviting us to this experience, funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and to my parliamentary colleagues on this delegation: Senator Perin Davey; Senator David Van; the member for Indi, Helen Haines; and the member for Gippsland, Darren Chester. Thank you for sharing the journey with genuine interest, great collegiality and a good dose of humour as well. It really is parliamentary cross-party delegations like these that can and do show our parliament at its best.