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House of Assembly - Fifty-First Parliament, Third Session (51-3)
2009-02-19 Daily Xml
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FOREIGN AID

Ms CHAPMAN (Bragg—Deputy Leader of the Opposition) (12:18): I move:

That this house calls on Australia's Minister for Foreign Affairs to lift the ban on Australian foreign aid being spent on abortion services and counselling, following the lifting of the ‘Global Gag’ by the new President of the United States of America on 23 January 2009.

In speaking to this motion, I want to briefly identify what the AusAID guidelines are, why there is a ban on them, why there should not be, who is responsible for them and who has the capacity to get rid of them.

The AusAID guidelines, which set out the rules for the funding and provision of Australian foreign aid, provide that no information about safe abortion can be given and no service provided, even in countries where abortion is legal. I say—and I hope members agree—that these guidelines act as a demonstrable disincentive for Australian aid providers to identify, plan and deliver sexual and reproductive health programs in countries around the world that receive our aid.

The guidelines were developed in 1996. It is acknowledged that the then federal Liberal government needed the support of Independent senator Brian Harradine to achieve the partial privatisation of the national telecommunications network (Telstra). Senator Brian Harradine had his price, and he clearly negotiated and demanded that this ban be imposed. It is important to note that, since this ban was introduced in 1996, funding for family planning reduced from $6.8 million in the 1995-96 budget, to $2.28 million in the 2006-07 budget. The reduction in family planning funding within the Australian aid budget decreased by 85 per cent in that period.

The federal Minister for Foreign Affairs has the power to strike out the family planning guidelines, which are now embedded in the AusAID policy, as I have indicated. It does not require any legislation, and it does not require any introduction of a regulation. He alone has that power.

The achievement of the millennium development goals, especially goal 5 (improve maternal health), goal 3 (gender), goal 4 (reduce child mortality), and goal 6 (combat HIV, malaria, and other diseases), require a comprehensive approach to the provision of sexual and reproductive health services.

Across the world, a woman dies every minute in childbirth or from pregnancy-related complications; 99 per cent of maternal deaths occur in the developing world. Unsafe abortions account for 13 per cent of those maternal deaths globally, and children who lose a parent are three to 10 times more likely to die within two years than those with both parents.

Australia should not deny the rights we have to women in the developing world where those rights are within the law. In Papua New Guinea alone maternal death rates have increased by more than 56 per cent over the last few years, according to United Nations statistics. As a signatory to the 1994 International Conference on Population and Development and the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women in 1979, Australia is contravening its international commitments. The ICPD states that, in circumstances where abortion is not against the law, 'health systems should train and equip health-service providers and should take other measures to ensure that such an abortion is safe and accessible'. The 15th anniversary of the ICPD is in 2009.

As one of his first acts after becoming the new United States President, Mr Barack Obama removed the contentious Mexico City policy—this global gag—which prevented non-government organisations from using United States dollars to educate about unsafe abortions and to provide safe abortions overseas. He is new in the job, and he has a hell of a challenge in front of him, and there is no doubt about that given the current financial circumstances. However, he recognised the importance of this, and now Australia is the only country in the world to limit overseas aid funds in this way.

I ask the house to support this motion to urge the federal minister (the Hon. Stephen Smith MP) to take up this issue and to understand how important it is. We celebrate International Women's Day on 8 March, and that is only a few weeks away. It is a day to celebrate the achievements of women, and I think it is an important day on which to urge the federal minister to act on this and to celebrate the opportunity for other women around the world to do so.

I particularly call upon members of the Parliamentary Group on Population and Development, which is a bipartisan group with representatives in this parliament and in other parliaments, both state and federal, around the country. I would like to think that we will support this and that we ensure that South Australia will lead with this resolution and, hopefully, give sufficient support to the new foreign minister to act on this matter promptly.

Mr PISONI (Unley) (12:24): I support the move by the Deputy Leader of the Opposition. I think the situation is as it was at the time of the Howard government's plans to privatise Telstra, to de-nationalise the asset of Telstra. It was an election commitment, and they won that election. The Labor Party, which, ironically, claimed to be economic conservatives in the lead-up to the last election, chose to vote against that policy, forcing the Liberal Party to secure the support of former senator Brian Harradine. He was a very conservative—

Mrs GERAGHTY: I rise on a point of order. I am confused about which motion the member is speaking on. We are talking about Ms Chapman's motion—

The SPEAKER: Notice of motion No. 3.

Mrs GERAGHTY: Yes.

The SPEAKER: The member is in order.

Mrs GERAGHTY: He is making a political speech on something that is very important.

The SPEAKER: Order! The member for Torrens will take her seat. The member for Unley.

Mr PISONI: The member for Torrens might find this distasteful because I am pointing out the embarrassing position of the federal Labor opposition at the time, suggesting that it should share equal responsibility for the fact that this became the policy of an Australian government. The member is embarrassed that her party played a part in this, and I am embarrassed with her. It is no wonder—

Mrs Geraghty interjecting:

Mr PISONI: She wants to interject and silence me when I am giving a history lesson about how this happened. I can understand why—

Mrs Geraghty interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order, the member for Torrens!

Mr PISONI: —she wants to intervene and play politics on this very important issue. The fact is that every economic reform which was put through the Senate when the Liberal Party was in office, and which put us in the strong position that we are in now to deal with this world financial crisis, was opposed by the Labor Party. Let us not forget that.

Unfortunately, we saw this ugly US style of politics having to be played in our own Australian parliament where a deal had to be done with a very conservative Independent, who had the balance of power, in order for the government to be able to deliver its agenda. That is why we had this deal done at the time.

I support the member for Bragg, and I hope that many other members of parliament will support this motion, which calls upon Australia's foreign minister to lift the ban on Australian foreign aid being spent on abortion services and counselling. It is an embarrassing clause that we have with regard to our foreign aid inasmuch as we are the only country in the world to have this.

I think that as true libertarians—and I have very progressive views on social issues—we should point out to our federal parliament, regardless of our political persuasions, that it should be concerned that we are still continuing with this practice when there is an ability to change it.

I call upon this parliament to express its concern and to let that concern be known to the foreign minister that we are not in the business of making moral judgments on others or of interfering in the individual lives of others overseas. We do not have the courage to intervene in people's individual lives in Australia, yet for some reason it is okay to do it in other countries. I support the motion.

Debate adjourned on motion of Mrs Geraghty.

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