Australian Council for International Development (ACFID)
Annual Council
Dinner, 22 October 2008
Margaret Reid AO, President of ACFID; Paul O’Callaghan, Executive Director; ladies and gentlemen.
Introduction
Thank you for the invitation to speak with member organisations of the Australian Council for International Development.
While I have spoken with many of you individually, tonight I want to take the opportunity to lay out the Government’s policy, actions and plans on foreign policy and development assistance.
The organisations you represent play a very significant role, both as part of Australia’s development assistance program and also as part of the international community’s development assistance efforts.
Importance of NGOs
In Australia and internationally, Non Government Organisations (NGOs) are recognised for their work to promote sustainable development, improved access to vital services such as health and education, promoting human rights and strengthening civil society.
NGOs are also recognised for their advocacy in promoting leadership and the effective use of resources within communities and by governments.
The Australian Government recognises and values the high quality work of NGOs, your effective local, national and global partnerships, and your specialist expertise.
NGOs have an invaluable and diverse range of on-the-ground experience in development.
We are conscious that NGOs are often working at community level and extend the reach and visibility of Australia’s development assistance efforts.
The Government also recognises that NGOs’ strong and diverse community support in Australia makes you well placed to raise both public awareness and support for Australia’s aid program.
ACFID’s members raise $750 million per year in donations, have 1.7 million regular donors and work in 140 developing countries.
Australians are a generous people.
The fact that on average less than 10% of funding for ACFID members comes from Government, with the remainder coming from community and private sector donations, is testament to this.
The Australian Council for International Development (ACFID) plays an essential role in representing a well informed and active group of organisations.
ACFID’s representations on issues such as humanitarian disaster responses, governance, security, debt relief, human rights and trade and international finance, have been valuable in informing policy decisions.
We have many mutual objectives and work together to achieve them.
A good example of the Australian Government, NGOs and local civil society working together is the Church Partnerships Program in PNG which is delivering improvements in basic health and education services for those in need.
Policy engagement and input from NGOs on development matters is very important.
A key way in which the Government currently engages Australians in the aid program is through our combined work in the AusAID NGO Cooperation Program (ANCP) which matches Government funding to public donations collected for approved activities.
The Government’s 2008-09 Budget increased funding through the ANCP to $44 million.
My hope is that the proposed reforms to the AusAID-NGO Cooperation Program currently under discussion will help to facilitate an even closer and better strategic working relationship.
As Parliamentary Secretary for International Development Assistance, Bob McMullan’s close relationship with the NGO sector is both well known and very important to me. He necessarily has closer day to day interactions with many of you than I do but he keeps me closely informed of his discussions with you.
Bob’s advice plays an important part in the consideration of development assistance matters.
Primarily, what brings us together tonight is our common interest and commitment to development assistance.
But I also acknowledge, and value, the broader interests your organisations have in issues of security, human rights and trade among others that I will touch on tonight.
A Good International Citizen
The Rudd Labor Government came to office committed to enhancing Australia’s reputation as a good international citizen.
In our first few moments we ratified the Kyoto Protocol and subsequently we doubled our assistance to the Palestinian Territories at the Paris Donors’ Conference, responded strongly to the security crisis in East Timor, outlined our approach to the significant development challenges in the Pacific and delivered an apology to Indigenous Australians.
We plan to continue as an active government, committed to addressing the challenges we face nationally, regionally and globally.
Governments should represent the values, virtues and characteristics of their people.
Australians are generous and practical and these values underpin the Government’s foreign and development assistance policies and priorities.
It means helping those less well off than ourselves.
It means helping to strengthen the institutions of governance and democracy in our region and the world.
It means actually contributing fresh thinking to solving regional and global security challenges.
It means tackling the poverty and despair that help give rise to modern terrorism and transnational crime. It means addressing environmental degradation and disease which also challenge our national security.
It means upholding the standards of civilised international behaviour, one fundamental aspect of which is our approach to the protection of human rights.
The Government’s commitment to human rights has been clearly demonstrated by the progress being made towardsstrengthening our commitment to the United Nations’ Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, the Convention on Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women and the Convention against Torture.
While Australia is only the 50th or so largest country in terms of population, we are in the top 15 economies.
In terms of living standards we are among the top 20 countries.
We are among the top dozen military or peacekeeping spenders.
We are a significant and a considerable nation and a regional leader but we are not a superpower.
Our standing as a good international citizen working regionally and internationally is critical to advancing Australia’s foreign policy and national interests.
Part of this commitment to being a good international citizen is our determination to make better use of our considerable prosperity to help those less fortunate than ourselves.
Guided by our commitment to the realisation of the Millennium Development Goals, we have pledged to increase our Official Development Assistance from 0.3 to 0.5 per cent of gross national income (GNI) by 2015.
This target represents a significant increase from the 0.3% we inherited and the even lower levels in each of the previous years since 1996-97.
Our commitment to development assistance is fundamentally based on our desire and responsibility to help those in poverty but it is also undertaken to advance Australia’s interests.
This is not separate from our foreign policy, it is a critical element of our foreign policy.
Stability and prosperity in our region and throughout the world are vital to Australia’s interests and are enhanced through a socially and economically strong, growing and well governed region which has been fostered, in part, through Australia’s development assistance program.
Global Financial Crisis
The impact of the global financial crisis is already being felt. Successful restructuring and stabilisation of financial markets by governments around the world is critical to containing the adverse economic fallout on developing countries.
If there are to be tough economic times ahead the world’s poorest will be hit hardest.
Australia’s commitment to increase development assistance to 0.5% of GNI by 2015 will not be shaken by the global financial crisis.
As US President Bush, World Bank President, Bob Zoellick, and UN Secretary-General, Ban Ki-Moon, have all said in recent days now is the time to reaffirm, not walk away from, the international community’s commitment to the Millennium Development Goals.
This is precisely what the Prime Minister and I have done. We have reaffirmed our commitment to increase our development assistance to 0.5% of GNI by 2015 to advance global progress towards the MDGs.
2007 Election Commitments
Prior to the 2007 election Labor made five key development assistance election commitments.
Most importantly, in July 2007 - at the halfway point towards the deadline for the Millennium Development Goals - Labor undertook to increase Australia’s development assistance to 0.5% of GNI by 2015-16.
Labor also promised to provide:
- $300 million to address critical needs in water and sanitation,
- $150 million to assist our near neighbours adapt to the effects of climate change, and
- $45 million to reduce the impact of treatable blindness and to address issues of disability more broadly.
These commitments were all delivered in the 2008-09 Budget. Our fifth commitment, to complete a debt-for-health swap with Indonesia, will be dealt with in the 2009‑10 Budget.
In addition to our election commitments, the 2008-09 Budget also delivered:
- $200 million to strengthen our partnerships with key United Nations agencies – demonstrating our renewed commitment to multilateralism;
- Over $125 million for key economic infrastructure in the Pacific;
- Over $100 million to boost Pacific public sector capacity; and
- Over $50 million to assist with land reforms in the Pacific, a critical precursor to economic and social development.
An Ongoing Focus
While in many areas the Rudd Government is charting a distinctly different course – more committed, more respectful and more engaged – than our predecessors, there are also elements of Australia’s approach to development assistance which remain constant.
The Asia-Pacific will remain the main focus of Australia development assistance program.
While the Government is committed to doing more in Africa and South Asia as part of a scaled up development assistance program, the Asia-Pacific will continue to be the mainstay.
Economic growth will remain the most powerful long term solution to poverty. In the end, the best form of development assistance is economic growth.
That’s why our development assistance program will maintain a strong focus on support for economic growth including key economic infrastructure and land and regulatory reforms.
Strengthening governance will remain critical for assisting fragile states.
Some of our development partners perform poorly on international measures of effective governance and improving this is fundamental to progress on broader development goals.
The Government recognises that improving governance involves working with civil society, not just with governments.
Aid Effectiveness
The Government is also determined to see that funding is used effectively to provide genuine improvements in people’s lives.
The gains must be durable, leading to an increase in the number of people lifted permanently out of poverty.
To achieve this, the world’s poor need their basic needs met while work continues to improve their long-term prospects and opportunities.
This depends on the sustained commitment of developing country governments, donors, non-government and civil society organisations, and international organisations.
To sustain the argument with Australians that development assistance is a worthwhile long-term investment, we must be able to demonstrate the good it is doing.
Not in esoteric or theoretical terms, but with concrete, practical examples where those who have benefited can speak for themselves about how Australia’s contribution has changed their lives for the better.
For example, Australia is working very successfully with the Indonesian Government to give all Indonesian children access to nine years of basic education and to build 2,000 junior high schools.
Delivering effective development assistance, and advancing the Accra agenda on aid effectiveness requires close cooperation with partner countries and other donors.
In many circumstances this will see Australia playing a lead role in strengthening bilateral relationships with developing countries and working closely with them to improve their own systems.
In some circumstances this means working with local community partners to make sure our assistance actually gets through to those in need.
Australian NGOs were critical in the delivery of the disaster response in Burma earlier this year, because they had experience, country expertise and they could gain access to affected communities.
In other circumstances it means working with and through the United Nations and other multilateral organisations.
This year, Australia has made substantial contributions to both the WFP and the World Bank to address the food crisis.
Pacific Partnerships for Development
The Government is determined to be different in the way in which Australia conducts itself in the Pacific.
The Government is engaging our Pacific neighbours in a conversation as equals, working collaboratively to realise shared economic and social aspirations.
Mutual respect, mutual responsibility and mutual commitment to building a better future for the Pacific is what underpins our Pacific Partnerships for Development, which were at the heart of the Prime Minister’s Port Moresby Declaration on 6 March this year.
When you recognise that nations are ultimately responsible for their own development, and respect, as we do, our Pacific neighbours and their national leadership responsibilities, you cannot be prescriptive about defining for them their issues and priorities.
We have already had very productive, practical discussions with many of the Pacific countries about their respective priorities for Pacific Partnership for Development frameworks.
We will commit jointly to improvements across priority areas: public infrastructure, governance, economic growth, education, health and public sector and public institutions capacity building.
We will build on individual countries’ own development strategies and their commitments to progress and reform. This is essential in promoting higher growth and more effective delivery of basic services.
We also need to widen our discussion to involve trade and economic cooperation, as well as policy and political dialogue to strengthen a shared sense of mutual responsibility and obligation.
Australia intends to pursue an enhanced ‘PACER Plus’ trade agreement deal with the Pacific.
In past decades, Australia has taken the decisions necessary to improve our trade performance. We know they were necessary and we know they were not easy.
Through PACER Plus we will be working with our Pacific partners to help them make the necessary adjustments to take full advantage of the opportunities of greater market access.
We will work with our Pacific neighbours to strengthen their national capacities to trade within the region and beyond and to put their economies on a more sustainable footing.
Education
Education is one of the most profoundly transformative investments that can be made – whether for young Australians, young Tongans or young Indians.
In basic education, programs like those I have recently visited in Indonesia and the Philippines are having a profound effect.
At Baseco Elementary School in Manila I reaffirmed Australia’s commitment to work with the Philippines to improve education for some of the Philippines’ most disadvantaged girls and boys.
The new three-year program I announced will expand teacher training, develop culturally appropriate curriculum and learning materials and build more classrooms, particularly in remote areas.
We can and should do more in this area.
Development scholarships also have tremendous benefits for individual recipients and for the countries to which they return.
In particular, scholarships are an effective tool for strengthening the public sector and Australia has critical expertise in agriculture which can be passed on through appropriate scholarships.
The historic Colombo Plan demonstrated the power of education both for developing countries and for developing relationships.
Food Security and Rural Development
Even before the global financial crisis, millions of the worlds poorest were being pushed deeper into poverty as a direct result of rapidly rising food prices.
This is a global crisis which can only be addressed through concerted and cooperative action by the international community.
Tackling the many causes of food insecurity requires a systematic approach, which addresses immediate needs as well as the long term.
One of these many causes is the decline in international investment, including in Australia, in agricultural productivity.
If the world is to continue to support an ever growing population on a fixed or shrinking area of arable land productivity growth is the only solution.
This is an area where Australia can, and must, lead and through the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR) we have a strong capacity to do so.
Already this financial year the Australian Government has provided more than $80 million to strengthen global food security, including $30 million to the WFP’s emergency appeal and $50 million to the World Bank fund to stimulate agricultural supply in vulnerable countries.
In addition to these contributions Australia is developing a comprehensive long-term action plan for food security which will draw on our expertise in semi-arid agriculture research, production and adaptation.
It will focus on improving agricultural productivity, strengthening rural livelihoods by increasing access to markets and on better income support systems for rural communities.
Africa
Africa faces the greatest development challenges of all and renewed commitment will be needed by the international community if Africa is to realise the Millennium Development Goals.
A renewed commitment is also required by Australia – which has neglected Africa for far too long.
Australia wants to be part of the drive to accelerate progress towards the Millennium Development Goals in Africa, playing a role concentrating on our areas of comparative advantage.
In doing so we will focus on:
- food security: using Australia's agricultural expertise can help African countries increase their agricultural productivity;
- health: to overcome the devastating impacts of maternal and child mortality; and
- water and sanitation: for example, sanitation in schools has significant impacts on educational outcomes.
The Government will also help to build the capacity of the public sector in African states by providing Australian scholarships, training and technical assistance.
We will increase support for Australian NGOs operating in Africa, building on the many years of active engagement by Australian NGOs across the continent.
Australia's intention is to focus our aid where we can achieve the most effective development outcomes. We will deliver our aid with partners such as the NGOs or the United Nations where it makes sense to do so.
Aid is very important but it is just one of a number of factors contributing to sustainable growth and development.
Trade, investment and political stability are critical to consolidating development achievements.
Australia's commercial relationship in Africa is growing. Our companies are playing a leading role in the development of the continent's natural resources, particularly in mining.
They have earned a reputation as good corporate citizens in supporting the development of local communities and boosting the skills of local personnel.
We are building on a platform of existing people-to-people links, including significant numbers of African students in Australia, and African families who have found a welcoming home in Australia as refugees.
As a prosperous nation, Australia is determined to play its part, both in tackling Africa's problems and in helping to unlock its enormous potential.
Climate Change
One of the Government’s first actions was to ratify the Kyoto Protocol.
The Government’s approach reflects the growing realisation that there are a number of issues, foremost of which is climate change, that Australia can only address in concert with the international community. There is equal futility in not acting or in acting alone.
The 2008-09 Budget included $150 million over three years to assist vulnerable countries assess and adapt to the likely impacts of climate change, with a geographic focus on Australia's neighbouring island countries.
Complementing the Government's adaptation response is Australia's $200 million, five-year International Forest Carbon Initiative, focused on reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation in Indonesia and Papua New Guinea.
The adaptation and forest carbon initiatives are key pillars of Australia’s international development assistance for environment and climate change programs, which will total over $130 million in 2008-09.
This commitment represents a significant increase in the level of resources devoted to climate change through Australia’s development cooperation program. This will continue to be a focus of the development assistance program.
Maternal and Child Health
The maternal and child health MDGs are amongst the least well advanced.
We are already heavily involved in these areas but we are committed to doing more.
An excellent example is in eastern Indonesia where Australia’s support has contributed to increases in antenatal and postnatal visits, attendances at births by trained health workers, acceptance of family planning, and community awareness about how to make pregnancy safer.
The Improving Maternal Health in Eastern Indonesia project, funded by AusAID and implemented by UNICEF, in nine districts of eastern Indonesia from 2004–07 made a vast difference to people’s lives.
Building on this project, the Australian Government announced in June this year a $49 million program, over four years, for further maternal and neonatal health improvements. The program will help to make pregnancy and childbirth safer for women in Indonesia’s poorest areas by, in particular, giving women easier access to trained midwives.
The Government has also provided significant funding in this area in Pakistan and Bangladesh and in New York recently the Prime Minister committed funding of $250 million over four years to addressing MDGs 4 (Reduce Child Mortality) and 5 (Improve Maternal Health) with a focus on the Asia-Pacific Region.
Overall Spending on health in 2008-09 will increase to over $440 million, or approximately 13 per cent of the development assistance program to help address the priority health needs of women and children, contributing especially to MDGs 4 and 5.
Conclusion
The government was elected with a promise of doing more in our region and internationally, through an increase in the aid program.
We remain absolutely committed to doing that and to doing it well.
To achieve that we will need to continue to work together.
One way we can do that is to let the Australian public know what we already know: the profound challenges people in developing countries are facing, the good work we are doing to help, and the progress we are making together in the international community’s interest and in our own national interest.
Thank you.