It is a pleasure to be with you tonight, here at Government House, on the lands of the Ngunnawal and Ngambri people – the traditional custodians of the Canberra region.
I would like to start by thanking Her Excellency, Governor-General Sam Mostyn AC.
We have been privileged in Australia to have had many Governors-General with a deep understanding of Australia’s place in the world.
You will have heard me say that our Government believes we need to deploy all arms of our statecraft in advancing Australia’s interests.
That of course includes our economic engagement, our cultural and sporting engagement, and our development and humanitarian work.
So it really furthers our fine tradition to have a Governor-General who is such a distinguished business, sport and community leader – and, indeed, a former president of this Australian Council for International Development.
I would also like to acknowledge and thank the representatives from ACFID here this evening.
Your work is grounded in values that Australians cherish.
A fair go. Equality. Compassion.
And tonight we are here to celebrate sixty years of ACFID.
An occasion for us to reflect on our shared partnership, our shared achievements, our shared purpose – and, I hope, our shared future.
Two years ago when I launched Australia’s new development policy, I emphasised that it was a policy built on partnership between government and civil society.
I want to return to our partnership, but let us first focus on the purpose that guides it.
And why the Albanese Government is so committed to Australia’s development and humanitarian efforts.
In short, they reflect our values and serve our interests.
Australians are better off and more secure if we live in a region that is peaceful, stable and prosperous. A region where sovereignty is respected.
We are better off when we are a reliable partner of choice to the countries of our region.
Yet when we took office three years ago, a vacuum had been left that others were filling.
For too long, Australia’s international development program was marginal and degraded.
Now, under the Albanese Government, it is central and growing.
In our first year, we committed to increase our development assistance to the Pacific by nearly a billion dollars, and to Southeast Asia by nearly half a billion dollars.
We have increased funding to civil society and NGOs, including $143 million a year through the Australian-NGO Cooperation Program.
And we are partnering in new and innovative ways, including through the Indo-Pacific NGO Blended Finance Accelerator, to help NGOs pioneer new approaches to financing sustainable development in our region.
At least as long as we are around, Australia will remain a reliable development partner.
But it would be easy to be daunted by the bigger picture.
At a time when development challenges and humanitarian crises are burgeoning, traditional development partners are dramatically reducing ODA levels.
While the full impact of these cuts is only starting to be felt, we know there will be consequences for stability and prosperity in our region.
Australia is responding to this challenge by reprioritising our development investments to bolster support to our region.
We now dedicate 75 cents of every Australian dollar to the Indo-Pacific.
We are prioritising targeted, high-impact investments that build resilience and respond to their needs, making us all more secure.
Even as others step back, we will always play our part.
We are providing $1 billion over five years to help build economic resilience in Pacific and Southeast Asian countries, including expanding access to finance for small businesses, creating jobs, and strengthening financial systems.
We are supporting the region across economic development, food security, health and climate.
And on the subject of climate change, we will continue to make our case to host the Conference of the Parties next year, in partnership with the Pacific.
We recognise that the threat of the climate crisis – to livelihoods, security and prosperity – is most urgent for Pacific island countries.
As I have made very clear to my Turkish counterpart, and as Minister Bowen has made clear to his counterpart, and indeed as the Prime Minister has made clear to President Erdogan: we remain committed to delivering a COP that will elevate Pacific voices and put a global spotlight on the urgent impacts of climate change in our region.
As well as growing our development budget, we are also increasing our humanitarian contribution to the region.
We are committing $370 million over three years to address the escalating humanitarian crisis in Myanmar and continue support for more than one million Rohingya refugees and their host communities in Bangladesh.
This brings Australia’s total commitment in response to this crisis to one and a quarter billion dollars over the past eight years – rightly our single biggest humanitarian contribution.
Clearly what matters most to Australia’s future is our own region.
Yet we also work with partners to support humanitarian responses where the need is the most acute.
Since October 7 2023, Australia has committed more than $130 million in humanitarian assistance to civilians in Gaza and Lebanon, to help to provide food, water, medicine and shelter.
We have been persistent in our call for humanitarian law to be upheld and for aid to be allowed unimpeded into Gaza.
And we are engaging with partners on how Australia can best meet deep humanitarian need and support early recovery in Gaza.
But as the world hopes the fragile ceasefire holds in Gaza, we witness atrocities in Sudan, compounding the suffering of those caught in a catastrophic humanitarian crisis and ongoing, unacceptable violence against civilians that has continued far too long.
Since 2023, Australia has provided $50 million in humanitarian assistance in response to the conflict in Sudan.
Australia has consistently called on all parties to agree a permanent ceasefire, make progress on negotiations and work towards civilian-led democratic governance in Sudan.
The Rapid Support Forces and the Sudanese Armed Forces made a commitment to protect civilians and enable humanitarian access. Australia demands they do so.
The perpetrators of these horrific crimes must be held accountable.
We support all efforts to investigate and bring to justice the perpetrators, including through the International Criminal Court.
Overnight we called for a special session of the Human Rights Council to discuss the situation in Sudan, alongside the UK, South Africa, Sierra Leone and a range of countries.
Tomorrow the Senate will pass a motion in solidarity with the Sudanese-Australian community and express our sincere hope for the international community to secure humanitarian access, safe passage for civilians and a sustainable peace for Sudan.
And tonight I announce Australia will provide a further $10 million in humanitarian assistance for civilians in Sudan, including $3 million for Australian Humanitarian Partners to support lifesaving activities such as protection, food security, nutrition and shelter.
The Albanese Government is rebuilding Australia’s aid program with enthusiasm and determination.
Yet this has never been a project that belongs to just government.
We can’t do it without ACFID and your member organisations.
We need you, your expertise, your in country networks and people to help us deliver our development and humanitarian support.
You are partners not just in implementation, but also in designing what we do.
I can think of no clearer example of this than the Declaration for the Protection of Humanitarian Personnel.
I initiated this Declaration in September last year, because respect for international humanitarian law is being severely undermined.
2024 was the deadliest year on record for humanitarian personnel. More than 380 killed and hundreds more wounded and kidnapped. 2025 is on track to be worse still.
Australia felt this deeply with the IDF strike last year against World Central Kitchen vehicles, which killed Zomi Frankcom and her colleagues.
The Declaration renews international commitment at the highest political level to upholding international humanitarian law and protecting aid workers.
Your support, your expertise, your advocacy through your networks was instrumental in the success of this Declaration – with over 100 countries signing on the first day.
The Declaration is important in its own right.
It is also important as a demonstration of the role Australia can play in a new era of amplified middle power diplomacy.
And it is also important as another illustration that we are natural partners, with shared purpose.
But there is another area where we do need that partnership to strengthen.
We can’t make the case for international development alone. And we can’t maintain the social license for it alone.
So while you will always call on us to do more, as we expect, maintaining that support in our democracy is perhaps a more fundamental challenge, and one of the responsibilities we share.
As the world becomes more fragmented, as some parts of the world retreat, our approach to international development will face growing obstacles.
Recently at a commemoration of 80 years of the United Nations, I made the point that we shouldn’t revel in nostalgia.
Likewise today, as we honour six decades of altruistic contribution from ACFID, we must remain resolute to our shared the task of maintaining the case for Australia’s contribution to international development – for the next sixty years, and beyond.