In 2000, the then Australian Prime Minister John Howard, along with 188 other world leaders, signed the United Nations Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) Declaration. Australia's signature on this declaration was a commitment to help the world's poorest of the poor.
In a historic sign of solidarity with the world's most vulnerable communities, world leaders committed to a global action plan to eradicate extreme poverty and hunger by 2015 — a commitment that Australian aid agencies robustly applaud.
For the world leaders who signed the declaration in 2000, poverty was not defined by the boundaries of states and regions. Needless human suffering is prolific, and as a leading international donor, the Australian Government is obliged to respond accordingly.
Caritas Australia is one of the largest Australian NGOs working in the Pacific. With more than 30 years experience in long-term development and emergency response, it knows the Pacific is a region enormously vulnerable to disasters and the impact of climate change; is plagued by HIV/AIDS and is in dire need of our support to build capacity in health services, education and agriculture.
In Papua New Guinea alone, Caritas Australia has facilitated HIV testing for 100,000 people, empowering communities to make informed health decision for themselves and their families.
The poverty and lack of opportunity endured by millions across the Asia-Pacific region is a disgrace, and ought to demand our Government's attention, but it is not enough to try to achieve the MDGs 'at home'.
It is impossible for Australia to turn its back on Africa. Former Foreign Affairs Minister, Stephen Smith aptly noted, 'Australia is a country of the Indian ocean as well as a Pacific Nation' — the distance from Perth to Nairobi is 8904km; from Sydney to Beijing is 8947km.
Africa is the poorest continent on earth and the region that is least on track to meet the MDG targets. Almost 50 per cent of people in Sub-Saharan Africa live on less than $1.25 US per day.
Australia's recent shift to double the aid budget to Africa recognises this. That said, aggregated figures of despair should not outshine the remarkable gains that have been made in the region due to the long-standing efforts of church and non-government organisations.
For instance, in Zambia, Caritas Australia supports projects that have