Adjournment speech, Tuesday 28 February 2012

QUESTION NUMBER 12 - SENATE FOREIGN AFFAIRS, DEFENCE AND TRADE LEGISLATION COMMITTEE ADDITIONAL ESTIMATES HEARING FEBRUARY 2011

Senator Hanson-Young asked AusAID in writing on 13 February 2011:
How much bilateral Australian aid funding, since August 2009 has gone to NEW family planning initiatives, that get family planning services to women who currently have an unmet need, to help reduce the number of unwanted pregnancies and unsafe abortions? How much money and support has gone to the provision of safe abortion services in the region?

QUESTION NUMBER 11 - SENATE FOREIGN AFFAIRS, DEFENCE AND TRADE LEGISLATION COMMITTEE ADDITIONAL ESTIMATES HEARING FEBRUARY 2011

Senator LUDLAM (Western Australia) (4.29 pm)-I move:

That the Senate-

(a) notes that:

(i) 25 November is designated by the United Nations as International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women, and that the white ribbon is the symbol for this day,

(ii) around Australia on 25 November, thousands of men and women will be wearing a white ribbon to show their support for this cause and taking an oath never to commit, excuse or remain silent about violence against women, and

The Greens currently have five federal senators, 21 state parliamentarians, and over 100 local councillors, including 73 in NSW alone. In the 2010 Juanita Nielsen Memorial Lecture, NSW Greens MP Sylvia Hale spoke on the topic of "The Greens: mainstream party or minor irritant?" on 21 March 2010.

Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Young has written to federal Health Minister Nicola Roxon, urging her to convene an emergency meeting with state and territory health ministers and attorneys-general to resolve the inconsistency around Australia’s abortion laws.

Medical abortion services were recently suspended in Queensland following a lack of clarity around their legal status, forcing women to seek treatment interstate.

Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Young has called on the Federal Health Minister to convene an emergency meeting of all state and territory health ministers and attorneys-general, as Queensland's abortion law stand-off continues.

Queensland hospitals have recently suspended medical abortion services as medical abortions are still technically illegal under Queensland criminal law, leading to women being referred interstate for treatment or facing the prospect of an abortion in their own home.

Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Young will today move a motion in the Senate calling on the Rudd Government to abolish restrictions on Australian aid funding of family planning and maternal health overseas.

US President Barack Obama recently overturned the global gag rule that prohibited aid funding going family planning services.

“Australia is now the only country that continues to enforce these draconian restrictions on our aid programs,” said Senator Hanson-Young.

“34,000 mothers die in our region alone per year because of a lack of maternal health support.

Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Young has called on the Rudd Government to follow the lead of President Obama and abolish the family planning guidelines that effectively ban the use of aid funding for some contraceptives and for abortion advice and services.

The AusAid guidelines are a product of former Senator Brian Harradine's conservative hold of balance of power in the Senate years ago.

"The Greens have long opposed these cruel and archaic restrictions and have been active participants in the campaign to have them removed," said Senator Hanson-Young