Ms MAY (12:57 PM) —The world's population will reach a staggering six billion tomorrow. It has doubled since 1960 and is still increasing at a rapid rate. Some 78 million people are born each year. At this rate, the world population is forecast to escalate to nine billion or more by 2050. It is universally recognised that the majority of the growth will be in the world's poorest and least prepared countries. It is also a fact that rapid population growth and high fertility rates help perpetuate poverty. The major effects of escalating population growth are on the depletion of natural resources and the environment, on the health and education sectors and on the labour markets of a region.

In many developing countries population growth is exerting intense pressure on social services and economic institutions. Labour markets are feeling the pressure from burgeoning numbers of new job seekers whose aspirations for white-collar employment are fuelled by secondary and tertiary education. Environmental deterioration is increasing in urban areas because of the massive movement of populations from the countryside. Because of past and current high levels of fertility, population momentum will ensure that population growth will continue to be significant well into the next millennium. It is therefore imperative that the Australian government and organisations such as World Vision continue to work at developing strategies in the area of family planning and to encourage countries to implement suitable programs.

Family planning services are an essential part of reproductive health care and have saved the lives and protected the health of millions of men, women and children. I had the opportunity to work with the United Nations on the ground in Indonesia some years ago helping to educate families about reproductive health and the importance of family planning. This work gave me first-hand knowledge of the difficulties facing developing countries in providing suitable and effective means of communicating just how important family planning and reproductive health is to the wellbeing of a country.

The development of modern contraceptive methods has given people greater individual freedom and enhanced their ability to plan lives. Yet I know from first-hand experience that it often is not easy to implement family planning strategies and encourage use of modern contraceptive methods. Often sensitive issues such as customs, tradition, culture and religion need to be overcome. In addition, in some Pacific regions a major challenge is to improve access to reproductive health and family planning services, particularly for adolescents, in both urban and rural areas at a time when resources are scarce and government budgets in developing countries are stretched. High levels of unmet needs for contraception are often attributed to poor health service infrastructure, limited choice of contraceptive methods, scarcity of contraceptives, untrained service providers, as well as inadequate access to appropriate services for adolescents, young adults and unmarried women. At the International Conference on Population and Development in Cairo in 1994, a 20-year plan was agreed to by 180 countries, setting objectives to curb population growth. One of those objectives is that by the year 2015 there will be universal access to quality and affordable reproductive health services, including family planning and sexual health.

With this in mind, I believe that reproductive health programs need to expand their reach and improve their quality to provide a full range of services to an estimated 18 million couples worldwide in their reproductive years. Another point to consider tomorrow when our attention is focused on the world's population is the impact of AIDS, which is now the leading cause of death in Africa and the fourth most common cause of death worldwide. Taking into account issues which may act as impediments to getting the message through about family planning and the importance of contraception, I believe developing countries need to look at alternative mediums for communication. Earlier this year I travelled to Vanuatu, where many people do not read and write and many adolescents have had only a couple of years of schooling. There, an innovative group has developed an effective way of communicating health and environmental messages—through theatre.

I commend Dr Nelson's motion and reiterate his calls for a realistic approach to family planning. The process of developing population policies should continue to be encouraged as a means of curbing population growth.