Ms HOARE (4:42 PM) —I note all of us on both sides of the House are in quite good company in speaking to this motion today. I am pleased to be able to speak to this motion on world poverty and the Millennium Development Goals and I congratulate the Chief Government Whip for raising these important issues in our parliament.

The eight millennium goals, written by the 191 member states of the United Nations, concentrate on income generation, health, education, gender equality and environmental sustainability. The first millennium development goal is to halve extreme poverty and hunger by 2015 by halving the proportion of people whose income is less than a dollar a day and halving the proportion of people who suffer from hunger. Over 80 developing countries have produced reports and have begun to reshape their budgets to MDG standards. The second goal is to ‘achieve universal primary education’ by 2015 by ensuring that children everywhere will be able to complete a full course of primary schooling. The third goal is to ‘promote gender equality and empower women’ in all levels of education. Countries need to eliminate gender disparity in education. Recent studies have shown that school enrolments for girls are increasing faster than for boys. The fourth goal is to ‘reduce child mortality’ by two-thirds by 2015, focusing on reducing the under-five mortality rate. The fifth goal is to reduce the maternal mortality ratio by three-quarters by 2015. The sixth goal is to have halted and begun to reverse the spread of HIV-AIDS, malaria and other diseases by 2015. To this end the global fund has already given $3 billion to projects in 128 countries. The seventh goal is to ‘ensure environmental sustainability’ by 2015. The eighth goal is to ‘develop a global partnership’.

Australia’s aid levels are low by international standards and fail to meet international agreements. Although, as has been mentioned, there was a slight increase in the total aid budget this year to 0.28 per cent, it still falls far short of the goal of 0.7 per cent of GNI, the aid is not focused on achieving MDGs and in the 2002-03 budget only 2.7 per cent of the total aid budget was allocated to the MDGs, which was equal to only about $49 million.

The United Nations recommendation is that we increase our aid budget to 0.5 per cent of GNI, with a goal to reach the full commitment of 0.7 per cent by 2013. This increase in Australia’s aid budget, at $A60 per person, would help 32.7 million people reach their MDGs. The benefits of this budget change could result in an average of 40,000 fewer child deaths per year, an average of 1,200 fewer maternal deaths per year, at least 9,000 fewer AIDS deaths each year, an average of 9,000 fewer deaths from TB each year, almost 11 million more people with access to safe drinking water and around 60,000 more children receiving basic education.

The current aid program provides high levels of aid to PNG and other Pacific island nations, yet aid levels are much lower with regard to other parts of our region. Australia should make a significant and equitable contribution to the poorest nations, such as Cambodia, Laos, Burma and Vietnam, in order to fill the MDG expectations.

Australia also needs to increase the proportion of the aid budget which goes toward reproductive health care, family planning and population activities. Obstetric complications are the leading cause of death among women of reproductive age in developing countries, and every minute one woman dies from a pregnancy related condition. When women are supported by investments in family planning and reproductive health care, their whole family is freed from poverty.

The Make Poverty History campaign urges the Australian government to join 19 of its OECD partners in making a substantial commitment to the MDGs. Australia’s position in the ODA ratio with GNI is 19th out of 22 OECD countries, even though the Australian population is in the top five most generous contributors to the development of the world. The Make Poverty History campaign recognises that the quality of aid contribution is as important as aid volume. An opportunity presented by the MDGs is to improve aid effectiveness by improving coordination between donors and recipients.

The UN summit on the MDGs to be held in New York this month must be attended by the Prime Minister, who still has not yet indicated if he will attend. Australia must take its place among the developed nations of the world and reflect the generosity of Australians and their overwhelming support for overseas aid by making a strong, resource backed commitment to these MDGs.