Submission to the Australian Senate Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs Defence and Trade Inquiry Into the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (Sdgs)

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Submission to the Australian Senate Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs Defence and Trade Inquiry into the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Global Citizen Australia

March 2018

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ABOUT GLOBAL CITIZEN 1. Global Citizen is an Australian-grown international advocacy organisation dedicated to ending extreme poverty by 2030.

2. More than 8 million people worldwide have joined the Global Citizen movement - committed to learning about and taking action on the world’s biggest challenges.

3. Through Global Citizen’s mix of compelling content and events, grassroots organising and digital channels, we are building the world’s largest movement for social action towards ending extreme poverty. We organise massive global campaigns to amplify the actions of Global Citizens from around the world and ensure that poverty reduction is on the agenda for the world’s key political moments.

4. Most notably our biggest event is the Global Citizen Festival New York that takes place every September alongside the UN General Assembly Leaders Week in Central Park, New York City. In 2016, we took the Global Citizen Festival to Mumbai India for World Toilet Day, Montreal Canada for the Global Health Fund replenishment and in 2017, alongside the G20, we hosted Global Citizen Festival Hamburg Germany. In April 2018, thousands of Global Citizens will take part in Global Citizen Live London for the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) and Global Citizen Live Vancouver in the lead up to the Women Deliver Conference 2019.

5. Since 2012, millions of Global Citizens around the world have taken more than 13 million actions. That’s 13 million plus emails, tweets, petition signatures and phone calls targeting world leaders to end extreme poverty by 2030.

6. To date, the actions by our global community along with our high level advocacy efforts with our partners, have resulted in commitments and policy announcements from leaders and businesses valued at over $35 billion which will affect the lives of 1.75 billion people.

7. Global Citizen is headquartered in New York, with offices in Canada, Australia and the United Kingdom.

8. The organisation was co-founded by Australians Hugh Evans, Simon Moss and Wei Soo in 2008 (previously named Global Poverty Project Ltd). The Global Citizen platform was co-founded with Ryan Gall and Riot House in 2012.

INTRODUCTION

7. Global Citizen welcomes the opportunity to contribute to the Australian Senate Inquiry into the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

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8. We believe this is an exciting opportunity to highlight the views of our supporter base on both the important role Australia can and does play in ending extreme poverty and in creating a stable and secure Indo-Pacific region.

9. We have long argued for Australia to play a strong leadership role in championing an end to extreme poverty on the global stage. This has been guided by our commitment to champion the delivery of the SDGs by 2030. For this reason, our submission is largely focussed on Australia’s international role rather than delivery of domestic targets.

10. In 2006, through the Make Poverty History Coalition, our co-founders (as part of their roles in the Oaktree Foundation) led campaign efforts that saw the two major political parties make commitments to increase Australia's foreign aid contribution to 0.5% of GNI.

11. In 2011, we hosted The End of Polio Concert in Perth, alongside the CHOGM, that saw the then Prime Minister, the Hon Julia Gillard AC, make a commitment of $50 million towards ending polio. This commitment to ending polio has been supported by successive governments, including being reaffirmed by the Prime Minister, the Hon Malcolm Turnbull MP, at the 2015 CHOGM and a new commitment from the Hon Julie Bishop MP, Minister for Foreign Affairs, in 2017 ahead of the Rotary International Pledging Conference.

12. In March 2016, Global Citizen launched our Level The Law campaign in partnership with the Australian Government’s then Global Ambassador for Women and Girls, Natasha Stott Despoja AM. The campaign seeks the repeal and/or amendment of gender discriminatory laws and practices, with a particular focus on Commonwealth countries.

13. Global Citizen served as a Friend to the Intergovernmental High Level Panel on Water that concluded in March 2018, which comprised 10 Heads of Government including Prime Minister Turnbull.

14. To build a peaceful and stable region - particularly with the fragility of some states within the Indo-Pacific - we believe the government’s investment in education, health, better governance, equality for women and girls, and access to clean water and basic sanitation are critical for achieving the SDGs.

15. Australians do care about helping others and already give generously to overseas causes. This is evidenced by a report by the Australian Council for International Development (ACFID) that found more than 1.6 million people donated $921 million between 2014 and 2015.1

1 ACFID, Increased public support for international aid shows resilience of Australian values, 14 February 2017 © Copyright 2018. Global Citizen Limited. All rights reserved. Global Citizen Limited (Australia), Charity ABN: 58 143 115 664 Level 1, 43 Stewart Street, Richmond VIC 3121

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16. That’s why we believe that Australia’s foreign aid contribution is critically important, particularly if the world is to achieve the SDGs by 2030, and it should continue to feature as a foundational pillar of Australia’s foreign policy agenda.

17. We believe this not only the right thing to do, but it is in Australia's national interest.

18. Investing in our region will bring the peace, stability, growth and human and health security needed to ensure Australia continues to prosper and be a good neighbour.

19. We understand that we need to bring Australians with us on this journey and better tell the story of why investing in aid is critically important to our region and the delivery of the SDGs by 2030. That’s what our movement sets out to achieve.

20. We know that when Australia is a good global citizen and proudly shares our values of freedom, rule of law, equality and a fair go, the world benefits.

Outline of submission 7. We have focussed our submission on the first six global goals and made a number recommendations that we believe will ensure Australia plays its role in implementing the SDGs, engages with the Australian public and is a good global citizen.

8. Our arguments are guided by eight key policy themes that we campaign on:

Global Citizen Campaign Priorities

1. Health Healthy people are able to live fuller, happier lives. They are able to pull themselves out of extreme poverty. For pregnant mothers, newborns and children a healthy life requires vaccines and access to healthcare. Everyone must be healthy to end poverty.

2. Girls & Women Girls and women are essential to building healthier, better-educated and sustainable communities. Women and girls are too often afflicted with some of the harshest aspects of poverty. Instead of victims, women and girls can be powerful community leaders.

https://acfid.asn.au/media-releases/increased-public-support-international-aid-shows-resilience-austra lian-values

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3. Education The world has cut the number of children without an education in half. This progress must extend to the over 50 million still left out. Educated and healthy children will lead their communities out of poverty and build the thriving nations of tomorrow.

4. Finance & Innovation Ending extreme poverty needs innovative ideas, good governance and sustainable financing. Funding global development needs inspiration from every part of the global community to empower people to pull themselves out of poverty.

5. Food & Hunger Well-fed people create stable communities, perform better in school and take advantage of the opportunities to end extreme poverty. The world has more than enough food to feed everyone, it’s time to make sure everyone gets enough to thrive.

6. Water & Sanitation Clean water, a place to “poo” and waste systems are not too much to ask. Over a billion people suffer the indignity of open defecation with almost as many lacking clean water. Together, the world can end these risks and save millions of lives a year.

7. Environment A healthy planet takes care of its people. Healthy people take care of the planet. Protecting the earth promotes the people who live on it. Improving the environment gives people the opportunity to survive and thrive in a world free

of extreme poverty.

8. Citizenship The world needs active global citizens who are engaged in the world, knowledgeable about its diversity and passionate about change. Ending extreme poverty requires information and ideas that inspire and motivate the global community to act.

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GOAL 1 - NO POVERTY

Ending extreme poverty needs innovative ideas, good governance and sustainable financing. Funding global development needs inspiration from every part of the global community to empower people to pull themselves out of poverty.

The $260 billion challenge

22. Over the last thirty years the number of people living in extreme poverty has halved.

23. While this is more progress than the previous century, one billion people still suffer from the effects of deprivation, lack of education, preventable disease, gender inequality and conflict.

24. Tackling extreme poverty in its current form presents at least a $260 billion a year overseas aid challenge, however current Overseas Development Assistance (ODA) contributions cover only $150 billion. For overseas aid this equates to at least a $110 billion a year shortfall.

25. The effective use of aid, fair trade and good governance are essential to reaching a sustainable solution.

26. Aid should not be a handout. It must be used as an investment in healthy and educated communities who can fully participate in a sustainable economy.

27. Australia has a long and proud history of helping to improve the lives of people in some of the poorest countries in the world and we want to see this investment increased and continued in our region through a strong foreign aid program.

28. Over recent years Australia’s aid program has been significantly reduced by more than $11 billion by successive governments. We currently give less than 30 cents out of every $100 of gross national income - the lowest since record keeping began in 1960.

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29. We want our government to lead by example and make a real impact in our region by investing in smart innovation, health, education, clean water and basic sanitation and the empowerment of girls and women programs.

30. Australia’s aid program is critical to ending extreme poverty globally but also it is in Australia’s national interest to create a safe and secure region.

31. By working together with our neighbours we can achieve the SDGs by 2030.

32. That’s why we need long-term bipartisan agreement to restore Australia’s aid budget and see our contribution lifted to 0.7% of gross national income (GNI).

Recommendation 1: Develop a national implementation plan for the SDGs, outlining how Australia will achieve the goals, both nationally and through our international development and humanitarian assistance efforts. A national plan should give a mandate to political and bureaucratic mechanisms to coordinate and drive SDG action, and include shorter-term targets as stepping stones to enable consistent progress towards the 2030 deadline, supported by specific financial commitments.

Recommendation 2: Ensure Australia’s approach to implementing the SDGs domestically and through our aid program centres the commitment to leave no one behind, with concrete strategies to support inclusion of disadvantaged groups in design, delivery and monitoring/evaluation and reporting on services and programs.

Recommendation 3: Rebuild Australia’s aid program to reach 0.7 per cent of GNI by 2030 through a planned, stepped and predictable trajectory, and make eliminating poverty and achieving the SDGs the primary purpose of Australia’s aid program.

GOAL 2 - ZERO HUNGER

Well-fed people create stable communities, perform better in school and take advantage of the opportunities to end extreme poverty. The world has more than enough food to feed everyone, it’s time to make sure everyone gets enough to thrive.

33. More than 815 million people are going to bed hungry each night and three million children are dying from malnutrition each year, while 155 million children are

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“stunted” (meaning, their bodies and brains have not developed as they should as they have not received the nutrients they need at the start of life).

34. Conflict is now a major driver of hunger and famine, with eleven out of thirteen current food crises being driven by conflict.

35. Women and girls are disproportionately affected by hunger and nutrition. Adolescent girls have a higher nutritional need yet are often missed by health services. Sixteen million adolescent girls give birth each year, often passing malnutrition from mother to children.

36. The World Bank estimates that at least another $7 billion is needed each year until 2025 if we are to reach the World Health Assembly nutrition targets.

37. Donors currently spend just 0.5% of ODA on nutrition (or $867 million) - down from 0.57% in 2014 - yet malnutrition is the underlying cause of 45% of child deaths.

38. Global Citizen is campaigning to garner action-oriented commitments under three categories from world leaders, including Australia: a. improvements to the food system; b. support for women and girls to address hunger and malnutrition; and c. political commitments to find peace and end famine.

39. Australia can play a leading role through funding programs to address these threats and use global mechanisms to ensure world leaders remain committed to addressing food and nutrition, ultimately resulting in zero hunger.

Recommendation 4: Increased investment in nutrition, especially supporting children in the early years of life.

GOAL 3 - GOAL HEALTH AND WELL-BEING

Healthy people are able to live fuller, happier lives. They are able to pull themselves out of extreme poverty. For pregnant mothers, newborns and children a healthy life requires vaccines and access to healthcare. Everyone must be healthy to end poverty.

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“Universal Health Coverage and health security are two sides of the same coin.” Dr. Tedros Adhanom, World Health Organization’s Director-General

40. At least 400 million people globally lack access to essential health services. Every year 100 million people are driven into poverty trying to stay healthy or even alive.

41. The 1918 Influenza Pandemic was the deadliest in modern history, infecting 500 million people - one third of the world’s population at the time - and killing 20 to 50 million people. A century later the question is not if, but when, the next pandemic will strike again.

42. The World Health Organization’s (WHO) program of work is a strategic plan for the next five years (2019 - 2023) designed to support WHO’s efforts to help countries progress towards the SDGs and outlines three strategic priorities for WHO each with specific targets: a. Advancing universal health coverage – 1 billion more people benefitting from universal health coverage (primary health care, service access and quality, reaching women/girls and people with disabilities). b. Addressing health emergencies – 1 billion more people better protected from health emergencies. c. Promoting healthier populations – 1 billion more people enjoying better health and well-being (access to vaccinations, nutrition, sanitation, addressing gender barriers to health).

43. Over the past 25 years, increased investments and coordination in global health have resulted in dramatic improvements in global health; the number of children dying has been cut in half since 1990. Polio, once rampant, is now endemic in only three countries.

44. Despite this, nearly 19 million children, are still not vaccinated against common and life-threatening diseases and 1.5 million children under five lose their lives to vaccine preventable diseases, such as pneumonia and diarrhea, every year.

45. These deaths are unacceptable and are preventable.

46. We know that for every dollar spent on childhood immunisations, there is $44 in economic benefits.

47. It’s for this reason that we are calling on the Australian Government to continue to invest through our aid program in global health security programs. This includes maintaining our historic contributions to Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, and the Global Polio Eradication Initiative.

48. Furthermore, we must prepare and protect our people from the human and economic devastation set to be inflicted by the next pandemic, estimated by experts as likely to occur over the next 10-15 years. Australia can implement the following concrete

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measures to strengthen our capacity to cope with these threats:

a. Fully meet and uphold the requirements outlined in the International Health Regulations (IHR), a legally binding agreement signed by 194 countries, that defines the rights and obligations of countries to report disease outbreaks to the WHO.

b. Support and provide funding for the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) a public-private partnership to finance and coordinate the development of new vaccines to prevent and contain infectious disease epidemics, which currently is only half-funded.

c. Meet the funding requirements for the WHO Contingency Fund for Emergencies (CFE) which intervenes in the critical initial stages to contain disease outbreaks from spreading and has received only $33 million of the $100 million it needs to operate and respond.

49. Affordable and effective interventions like vaccines, antibiotics, hand-washing and breast feeding have proven track records and immediate impacts. Closing the gap on preventable deaths, which disproportionately affect the poorest communities, should be the first order of business for countries and global health players around the world.

50. Increased investments in diseases of the poor, such as tuberculosis, which are woefully underfunded, must be prioritised, including working towards sustainable solutions, in collaboration with manufacturers and distributors of essential vaccines and medicines, to ensure that high pricing is not a barrier to access for those who need it most.

Polio eradication - #EndPolio

51. Australia has a powerful story to tell in global efforts to eradicate polio.

52. It was in fact an Australian Rotarian, Sir Clem Renouf, who as President of Rotary International first initiated the global eradication effort to end polio in 1979.

53. Thirty five years later, fewer children are being paralysed by polio than at any other time in history, and today 15 million people globally are walking who otherwise would have been paralysed by polio.

54. Yet even one case is a case too many. A case of polio anywhere is a threat everywhere.

55. As late as 2007, a case of polio was imported from Pakistan to Australia; this highlights why we must eradicate this disease once and for all and be vigilant in global health security measures.

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56. To succeed in finishing the job on polio, efforts must continue to immunise more than 400 million children in over 60 at-risk countries including in the Indo-Pacific region. If we are to succeed in reaching every last child, sustained funding is required.

57. To ensure this once in a generation opportunity does not fall from within our grasp, Australia must continue to play its part in global efforts to end polio.

58. The Australian Government should ensure that - until polio is eradicated and a successful transfer of lessons learnt has occurred - polio eradication remains a priority on the CHOGM and G20 meetings agendas. This is an important mechanism for highlighting the successful transfer of polio-related assets and lessons learnt (at national, regional and global levels) and how it can be leveraged to enhance global health security and universal health coverage more broadly.

59. The health infrastructure, knowledge, and tools learnt from polio eradication will help us fight other diseases, such as measles and Ebola, and prevent future global epidemics. By eliminating polio, the world will reap savings of $40-50 billion, funds which can be used to address other pressing global health needs.

Neglected tropical diseases 60. Globally, 1.5 billion people are affected by Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs), which include diseases ranging from those causing preventable blindness to those causing disfigurement such as leprosy.

61. These are diseases that we know how to treat or prevent, yet without adequate attention cause severe disfigurement and disabilities. This is shockingly unnecessary.

62. In 2012 governments, pharmaceutical companies and frontline health workers committed to take action and prioritise the treatment and elimination of ten NTDs before 2020. Based on current trends, this target will not be met. The need for increased action through global platforms such as the Commonwealth to implement existing solutions can no longer be ignored.

63. NTDs continue to disproportionately impact the poorest and most vulnerable people across 149 developing countries. 40% or 600 million people of those affected live in Africa.

64. The five most common neglected tropical diseases can be treated for less than US$ 0.50 per person, per year.

65. The World Health Organization has set a target of eliminating at least one NTD in 35 countries by 2023. This presents the African Union with an opportunity to take the lead on delivering this goal.

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66. We urge Commonwealth leaders to capitalise on the progress made in Commonwealth countries, and work together to proactively realise the shared 2020 vision and commit to bring an end to these 10 diseases by investing US $250 million per year by 2020 in order to reach an additional half a billion people with NTD treatments by 2020.

67. This can be achieved by promoting the need for universal healthcare, ensuring all communities have access to the drugs they need, committing the funding required to achieve these goals, and holding yourselves to account for progress.

68. We can be the generation to ensure no one suffers from diseases we know how to prevent.

Recommendation 5: The Australian Government to continue to maintain or increase its investment through its ODA program in global health security initiatives. This includes maintaining our historic contributions to Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, and the Global Polio Eradication Initiative.

Recommendation 6: Increased investments in diseases of the poor, such as tuberculosis, which are woefully underfunded, must be prioritised, including working towards sustainable solutions, in collaboration with manufacturers and distributors of essential vaccines and medicines, to ensure that high pricing is not a barrier to access for those who need it most.

Recommendation 7: The Australian Government should ensure that - until polio is eradicated and a successful transfer of lessons learnt has occurred - that polio eradication remains a priority on the CHOGM and G20 meetings agendas. Australia advocate for the successful transfer of polio-related assets and lessons learnt (at national, regional and global levels) and how it can be leveraged to enhance global health security and universal health coverage more broadly.

GOAL 4 - QUALITY EDUCATION

The world has cut the number of children without an education in half. This progress must extend to the over 50 million still left out. Educated and healthy children will lead their communities out of poverty and build the thriving nations of tomorrow.

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69. Children in poor countries face many barriers to accessing an education. Some are obvious – like not having a school to go to – while others are more subtle, like the teacher at the school not having had the training needed to effectively help children to learn. Investing in education should be given the utmost priority in Australia’s foreign policy agenda.

70. Education after all develops individual capacity for critical thinking, contributing to stronger democratic institutions, economic development, and community resilience to violent extremism and better health.

71. The latest Global Education Monitoring Report found that out-of-school numbers are up to 264 million children, including over 131 million girls, and 75 million have had their schooling disrupted by conflict or natural disasters.

72. Women are also disproportionately affected by the sanitation crisis and other barriers or factors preventing them from accessing and completing an education.

73. Perhaps one of the best examples of foreign aid protecting Australian interests is a project initiated under under the Howard Government. Over the last decade or so, Australia has deployed $300 million per year to Indonesia to build schools. Through addressing some of the underlying conditions that promote the emergence of terrorism, such investments have produced immeasurable benefits in remote communities that are often the breeding grounds for extremism. In doing so it has reportedly led to a softening in antagonistic attitudes towards Australia amongst those communities.

74. In respect of new innovative responses, the Education Cannot Wait Fund (ECW) is a fund that aims to better coordinate support for, and drive investment in, education for children and youth affected by emergencies and protracted crises. It is the first global fund to prioritise education in humanitarian action and is groundbreaking in its collaborative approach to make sure every crisis-affected child and young person is in school and learning.

75. In times of crisis is critical to ensure that all children are being educated where they are. This has flow on effects on migration, prosperity and well-being in the region.

76. Global Citizen is campaigning for more than 2% of humanitarian aid to go towards education and for governments, the private sector and individuals to help meet the funding need of at least $8.5 billion dollars per year to provide quality emergency education services and for Education Cannot Wait to be fully funded to its target of $3.85 billion by 2021.

77. We were instrumental in Global Partnership for Education’s 2018-2020 replenishment effort, helping secure $2.3 billion which could reach over 645,000 children in 89 countries. Thousands of Global Citizens and our sector partners called for the

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Australian Government to provide a commitment of $200 million AUD as part of the pledging moment but $90 million was announced.

78. Since 2016, Global Citizen has helped secure more than $150 million to the Education Cannot Wait Fund to support over 3.7 million children in crisis in 13 countries, including Syria, Bangladesh and Ethiopia. Global Citizen’s #BooksBuildLives campaign aims to meet ECW’s funding target of $3.85 billion over 5 years to provide quality emergency education services. As part of the 2018 CHOGM in London, Global Citizens have been calling for the Australian Government to contribute an additional $20 million to invest in education in emergencies.

Recommendation 8: The Australian Government to increase its support for education and increase its share of total funding for the Global Partnership for Education from current investment of $90 million to $200 million AUD.

GOAL 5 - GENDER EQUALITY

Girls and women are essential to building healthier, better-educated and sustainable communities. Women and girls are too often afflicted with some of the harshest aspects of poverty. Instead of victims, women and girls can be powerful community leaders.

79. The Australian Government has already made a number of strong commitments that demonstrate its leadership in driving global empowerment of women and girls. This includes establishing an Australian Ambassador for Women and Girls and its bold commitment that 80 percent of development programs are required to effectively address gender equality and women’s empowerment.2

80. We welcome these commitments but there is still so much more to be done.

81. We are calling on the Government to continue to push and build on these efforts to deliver real and lasting outcomes, particularly in the Indo-Pacific region, so that all women and girls are free from discrimination under the law.

2 DFAT, Australia's assistance for gender equality, retrieved 24 February 2017, http://dfat.gov.au/aid/topics/investment-priorities/gender-equality-empowering-women-girls/gender-eq uality/Pages/australias-assistance-for-gender-equality.aspx

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82. We are also calling for the creation of initiatives that promote entrepreneurship and opportunities for greater economic participation of women.

83. Investing in water and sanitation initiatives that also address menstrual hygiene is a critical measure in global efforts to empower women and girls.

84. Over 90% of countries have at least one gender discriminatory law on the books that restricts the rights of girls and women to own property, open a bank account or have legal protection from abusive practices like child marriage, marital rape and honor killings.

85. 214 million women do not have access to contraceptives, and every day, over 800 women & girls die from pregnancy complications.

86. For these reasons we are calling on Australia to champion our campaign to #LevelTheLaw, particularly by using its role on the Human Rights Council to champion equality for women and girls.

Recommendation 9: Australia to champion efforts at CHOGM in April, the G20, and through UN mechanisms such as the Human Rights Council, to ensure countries repeal or reform outdated laws that discriminate against women and girls so that we #LeveltheLaw.

Recommendation 10: The Australian Government to increase its current funding of $23.7million to investing $50 million per annum for reproductive health initiatives.

GOAL 6 - CLEAN WATER AND SANITATION

Clean water, a place to “poo” and waste systems are not too much to ask. Over a billion people suffer the indignity of open defecation with almost as many lacking clean water. Together, the world can end these risks and save millions of lives a year.

87. Over half of the world’s entire population - or 4.5 billion people - lack access to clean water and sanitation. Diarrhea is the second leading of cause of death for children under 5 years old.

88. Without access to clean water, sanitation, and hygiene, girls and women:

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a. Spend 200 million hours a day collecting water for their families rather than attending school or working a job which grants them economic independence and personal empowerment. b. Miss out or dropout of school because they lack the resources and information necessary to manage their periods hygienically and with dignity at school. c. Face physical and sexual violence as a result. 50% of the rapes in India are linked to a lack of sanitation, which force women to use the outdoors for their personal needs and therefore expose themselves to physical and sexual violence. d. Drink dirty water, which leads to life-threatening diseases that are known to kill more people every year than AIDS, malaria, and measles combined. These illnesses from dirty water are also the second leading cause of death for children under five.

89. The World Bank estimates that the global economic cost of inadequate sanitation is $260 billion USD annually.

90. As a member of the High Level Panel on Water Australia is uniquely placed to champion investment in and access to water and sanitation on the global stage.

91. The situation in the Pacific is critical. In Papua New Guinea, it’s estimated that 4.5 million people live without safe water - 60% of the total population – and 800 children die each year from diarrhoea. Similarly, in the Solomon Islands only 13% of households have access to basic sanitation.

92. Australia has an important role to play as a leader in the Indo-Pacific region by committing to investing in water and sanitation projects. However, due to reductions to our overseas aid program over multiple budgets, available funding for water, sanitation, and hygiene projects has disappointingly been reduced.

Recommendation 11: The Australian Government to release a long-term statement on investment in water and sanitation projects in the Indo-Pacific region, alongside long-term funding commitments through the ODA program.

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SUMMARY - RECOMMENDATIONS

Recommendation 4: Increased investment in nutrition, especially supporting children in the early years of life.

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Recommendation 7: The Australian Government should ensure that - until polio is eradicated and a successful transfer of lessons learnt has occurred - that polio eradication remains a priority on the CHOGM and G20 meetings agendas. Australia to advocate for the successful transfer of polio-related assets and lessons learnt (at national, regional and global levels) and how it can be leveraged to enhance global health security and universal health coverage more broadly.

Recommendation 10: The Australian Government to increase its current funding of $23.7million to investing $50 million per annum for reproductive health initiatives.