Ms HOARE (5:29 PM) —Following my election last month to the seat of Charlton, I met with a cross-denominational delegation of representatives from the Christian churches in my electorate. We spoke of a movement called Jubilee 2000 where organisations like Mission Australia, St Vincent de Paul and the Smith Family, in Australia and across the world, are calling upon the governments of wealthy countries, the IMF and the World Bank to write off debts owed by the poorest underdeveloped countries.

A billion people in the world's most underdeveloped countries owe a debt that they can never repay. These people are some of the most vulnerable people in our global community. The Jubilee 2000 campaign intends to give the world's poorest people a debt-free new start. Jubilee 2000 aims to celebrate the new millennium by cancelling the unpayable debts of the world's poorest countries. It is lobbying the federal government through parliamentarians. It supports and praises this government's and the previous government's overseas aid programs but—along with many others in our community—requests that this government take more determined steps to reach the United Nations agreement of 0.7 per cent of GNP as soon as possible.

This campaign will succeed only with wide public support. The campaign requires that wealthy countries identify the poorest debt burdened countries, calculate the debt for each country which can never be repaid, work out conditions on a case by case basis, ensure the poor will benefit and cancel those debts by the year 2000.

The facts are that Africa now spends four times more on interest than on its health care. Over half a million children die each year because of inadequate health services. Rainforests are being destroyed to provide timber and beef to earn money to pay back debts. In 1993, those rich nations took back $3 in debt repayments for every $1 they gave in aid. In the world's 37 poorest countries spending per person has decreased by 50 per cent on health and 25 per cent on education.

My colleague the member for Shortland recently in this parliament urged the government to cancel Nicaragua's $5.8 million debt. France, Austria, Germany, Cuba and Spain have all written off millions of dollars of debt owed by Central American countries. This debt cancellation was inspired only by the devastation and tragic aftermath of Hurricane Mitch, where 11,000 people were killed and more than three million were left homeless. Australia is not a major creditor to these Central American countries. Nicaragua's $5.8 million debt is peanuts in relation to our total GDP. What has been the response of this government? It has graciously agreed to reschedule payments so that the pain of debt for Nicaraguans is extended for another 25 years.

As a part of the global community, Australia does have a part to play. We live in a community where the other side of the world is at the other end of the phone, where you can hop on a jet and be there in a few hours. These countries have no way of paying off these debts. In Uganda alone, the then dictator President Idi Amin borrowed $1 billion, the majority of which was directed towards defence weaponry, which he then proceeded to use to consolidate his own dictatorial position. Each Ugandan woman, man and child now owes $170. This is in a country where half the population only receives $100 in wages a year.

In our own country we would not pass by a person starving or homeless or in need of some kind of assistance without offering our help. In our country we provide support for those people who are unable, for whatever reason, to support themselves. We do not then ask that they pay it back. We expect those people who are more fortunate and more wealthy to provide the means of assistance through our taxation system. When the government provides assistance to industry in the form of import restrictions or tax breaks we say, `Okay, you are struggling, we will give you some assistance. It will not be for ever.' When government provides that assistance to business, it does not ask for it back.

In our global community these countries were provided with assistance when they needed it to survive. A lot of them are on their way to economic independence and Australia, as a wealthy country, should be assisting that progress.