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EMBARC-O: MIAJOR hVENIING NEWS
~ J4BULLETINS ON 16.10.82
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FOR MEDIA SATURDAY, OCTOBER 16 1982
WORLD FOOD DAY
Today is World Food Day, and I want to take this opportunity
to talk to you about the problems of hunger and poverty,
about what the world is doing to try to solve those prohlems,
and about how Australia is contributing,.
We sometimes become preoccupied by what we see as significant
problems here in Australia, and there is no doubt that many
of these problems are real. But it doesn't hurt to remem,, ber
that there are vast numbers of people in the wvorld ! aho are
much worse off than we are. . In a relatively affluent country like
Australia, it is easy to forget that about 1,000 million
people in the world have an income of no more than $ 200
a year.
That means they have less than 55 a day to spend on food,
clothing, housing, transport and all the other services that
most Australians take for granted. Those people live in
inadequate housing, without proper water supplies, roads,
electricity, medical services or education. What is worse,
many of them do not even have enough to eat. They can't
go down to a corner shop and buy a loaf of bread w~. hen
they are hungry: if there was a corner store, in all
likelihood its shelves would be empty.
What is particularly tragic is that the world grows enough
food to feed everyone, yet the problems of hunger and poverty
are getting worse, not better. At the international level,
various things have been done to try to overcome these
appalling problems.-
Attempts have been made to try to arrange for a better
distribution of food throughout the world, to provide
better access to world markets for the products of developing
countries, to provide better financial arrangements for
those countries and to help them with their energy, problems.
But these initiatives have so far had only limited results.
There is still1 a great deal to be done. Wle have been
particularly disappointed that attempts to launch major
negotiations on the problems of developing countries have
so far been unsuccessful. Efforts must continue, because
the need for international solutions to those problems is
urgent. / 2
I am sure most Australians would agree that poverty and hunger
are among the greatest problems which humanity faces, and
as one of the world's major trading nations as one of the
largest food exporting nations Australia is in a position
to help significantly. Indeed, we have already done a number
of important things. We played a. nmajor role at, the Commonwealth
Heads of Government Meeting in Melbourne last year which did
so much to get the international com: munity to think more about
how to tackle these problems, and we are continuing to play
an active role in international fornums to try to get all
countries to recognise that poverty and hunger are calamities
for mankind, and that solutions must be found.
This year the Australian Government will spend nearly $ 740 million
on aid to the world's developing countries.. We are also
providing technical assistance and advisers to help those
countries to develop their own agricultural resources, and
to help them build roads and dams and other essential
services. The new Australian Centre for International
Agricultural Research will ensure that Australia's agricultural
research skills are used as effectively as possible to
help developing countries increase their own food production.
Trade is one of the major engines of economic development,
and significant barriers to trade are one of the factors
holding back the development of many of the poorer countries
of the world. There is an urgent need for all countries,
acting together, to reduce obstacles to trade, and developing
countries would be major beneficiaries if agreement to do
so could be reached.
Australia was one of the first countries to give special
preferences to a range of imports from less developed
countries. We have initiated studies of the particular trade
problems that developing countries face, and we have put
proposals to international meetings on world economic and
trade problems which, if adopted, would help developing
countries significantly.
But there is still a need for more energy for a much
greater commitment by all countries acting together to
tackle the trade problems faced by the developing nations.
Greater access to world markets is by far the best way
to enable developing countries to stand on their own feet,
and to become less dependent on official aid, and to be
able to do something about the standard of life for their own
people.
The greatest single problem faced by many developing countries
remains that of food security. There is an urgent need to
increase food production in a large number of countries, and
an equally urgent need to ensure that those countries
consistently have sufficient supplies of food at reasonable
prices.
Australia has done a great deal to help to solve this
problem. This year. we will provide about 450,000 tonnes
of grain for food for needy countries, and we have called
on other countries to increase their food aid. In addition,
we are helping developing countries to increase the productivity
of their own farms so that they are able more easily to
feed themselves. Internationally, work has been done on
securing awheat price stabilisation agreement and to
encourage the building up of food stocks so that reserve
supplies will be available in times of particular need.
But progress has been slow, and in many countries despite
what has been done the problem of food security is greater
today than it was 20 years ago.
The problems of hunger and poverty are significant and
tragic indeed. If the international community cannot agree
on action to be taken together, then mankind will not only
carry a heavy responsibility for failing to solve these
serious human problems, its failure also will. contribute
to international instability and make thewr] c1 a riore
difficult place than it already is.
Australians are increasingly becoming aware of this, and
th6 Government will continue to use every avenue open to
it! to play its part in overcoming world-wide poverty and
hunger. World Food Day is an occasion when all of us should reflect
on these problems, on what they mean to thle people who face
them and on what more we can do to help solve them.