Remarks at Moreguina Village, Central Province, Papua New Guinea

Subjects: Aid to the Pacific; Health delivery in PNG; Health programs with the Asia Development Bank (ADB)

Transcript E&OE - Proof only

1 October 2011

MINISTER RUDD: Well thank you for that fantastically warm welcome.

Papua New Guinea is a beautiful country.

Central Province is a beautiful province.

And Moreguina is a beautiful village, and you have beautiful young children here in Moreguina village.

I love Papua New Guinea. I have been here many times, and I want to come here many times in the future as well.

A big challenge in Papua New Guinea is health. Making sure that little babies are born safely, making sure that when they are little kids they get the right vaccinations to protect them from diseases. And as they grow up, that they get health checks all the way through.

I understand that there are health problems here and in many villages in Central Province. I understand that. And what I’ve been trying to do is make things better.

Some of you will have heard of the Asia Development Bank. They are here trying to help. And what I’m here to confirm to you all today is that the Asia Development Bank, right across Papua New Guinea, has launched an 80 million dollar program to improve health right across Papua New Guinea. And, as the Australian Government, we are providing 40 million dollars of that funding to make sure it works.

What we are trying to do is to boost the health of 1.2 million people in Papua New Guinea who otherwise would have a real problem, and may die. 1.2 million out of this wonderful country of nearly 7 million people. We want to make a difference, and that’s why we are here.

Of course, saying a big thing like that is useless unless it happens in villages like this. I have been up to Goroka in 2008, I have been now to the Central Province, I have climbed the Kokoda Track, and visited every village along the way, and nearly died – that’s a long walk!

But what I know is that in every village it is really important that in every health post you have the supplies to make a difference to this little boy’s life, to that little girl’s life, and all the other children who live in these villages, and that’s what we’re here to do.

So how do we make that work at a very practical level?

In the helicopters which came in today, we brought some supplies. If you look inside the Land Rover over there, the 4WD, you’ll see basic health kits. What they are designed to do is ensure that, here in this village, you have all the supplies you need to provide basic health care for these kids. And in a minute I want to hand those over to you, and to Moses, who is working here in this particular health post. Moses is going to bring you out of the wilderness on this question, and he is a good man. And with your local leadership here in the village, you have good strong leaders.

So what we want to do, as your friends in Australia, is come back here in one year’s time to make sure that it is different; that the number of little babies who are dying in childbirth is reduced; to make sure that those who are getting infections very early in their lives is reduced in number and that the number of little babies surviving to the age of five increases. And so next year, one year from now, we are going to have a test to make sure it is happening here on the ground.

The last thing I would like to say is, all this is made possible if you, the members of this village, also make it work.

If the mums and the dads, and the grand-mums and the grand-dads, and the older brothers and older sisters all make it work. You can have good things at a health post like this, but unless you come and use the supplies in a very good way, then it won’t work. So it really depends on everyone on this verandah this morning, hundreds of you, maybe a thousand of you, but this is really important to make this work, so that in one year’s time, I’m going to ask Moses, I’m going to ask the village leaders, I’m going to ask the High Commissioner, Mr Kemish, what it was like now, and what it will be in 12 month’s time, because the whole point is to make a difference.

Now my friends, which of you enjoys Rugby League? Everybody? Which of you has been watching the NRL back home?

The great national tragedy in Australia is that my team, the Broncos, are not in the final. Do we have Broncos fans here? (Crowd yells yes). This is a very good village. So we’re going to have an NRL final with no Broncos – that is a bad thing. But given that we’ve got Manly and given we’ve got the Warriors in the grand final, we’d better back Manly.

Are any of you supporting the AFL? There’s a big game on in Australia as well. Who’s supporting Geelong? (Silence) Who’s supporting Collingwood? (Silence) I’m glad to see it’s a Rugby League village!

One of the things we want to do in the future as well friends, is build up the local competition in Rugby League.

I want all of our young boys here to be able to participate in a team. I want them to be able to play against the team in the village next door. I want them to be able to have a hope in representing their province. I want them to have a hope of representing their country.

And so what you’ll see from us also is how we use football to raise the standards of the competition right across Papua New Guinea, and we in Australia will be supporting that. Because that way, with all these Broncos supporters, we’ll definitely be in the Grand Finals in the future!

And the little girls here, well we also want to make sure that netball becomes available for the little girls. And so the little girls can train in teams and enjoy themselves and be fit and healthy, but then also represent their village, their province, their country. It’s all part of the great story of Papua New Guinea.

So friends thank you for coming out in all these numbers today, thank you for the very warm welcome, thank you for being such good friends of Australia, and thank you for being such good friends of mine. (Applause)

END

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