I'm delighted to be here tonight in support of the Oaktree Foundation.
It has been terrific to watch Oaktree grow from just a seedling, five years ago, to its current shape - with branches spreading across the country.
I remember my introduction to Oaktree when a young man named Hugh Evans came bounding through the door of my office in Parliament House.
He didn't just want to talk about the weather - or show me his new medal as Young Australian of the Year.
Instead, Hugh wanted to talk about poverty.
He wanted to talk about injustice.
And, most impressive of all, Hugh didn't just want to talk about it, he wanted to explain to me how he was going to fix all of this.
It has been wonderful to watch Oaktree grow in the years since then.
Tonight I'd like to focus on the role that Oaktree and other organisations in the third sector can play in our efforts to tackle poverty.
Challenging economic conditions
But first I would like to address the immediate challenge of the difficult global economic conditions now being confronted by Australians and by our region.
Australia like other nations faces tough economic times ahead because of the state of the global economy.
That is why the Government is building a stronger Australia through responsible economic management to put downward pressure on inflation and as a result, on interest rates.
And it is why we have a major economic reform agenda to strengthen our long term competitiveness and build the industries of the future.
Industrialised nations are facing some of the most uncertain economic conditions in the past two decades, with soaring energy and food prices, combined the uncertainty in global credit markets.
Australia is not immune to the impact of these developments - and we have the added complexity of inheriting the highest inflation rate in 16 years.
As a result of slower global growth, tighter credit conditions and higher interest rates, economic growth is expected to moderate to 2.75% in 2008-09.
This is expected to lead to a moderation in employment growth and to gradually reduce inflation.
The Budget forecasts that employment growth is expected to moderate from 2.5 percent in 2007-08 to 1.25 per cent in 2008-09.
The Budget also forecasts that unemployment is expected to rise from 4.2 percent currently to 4.75 per cent by June 2009.
With the global turmoil buffeting all economies, the Government's responsibility is to chart a responsible course ahead.
The Government is acting responsibly to meet the short and long term challenges of rising inflation and a slowing global economy.
In the short term we are monitoring unfolding developments to ensure that we strike the right economic balance for the conditions we face:
* We struck the right fiscal balance in the Budget.
* We provided a $55bn support package to Australians doing it tough including $47bn in tax cuts.
* And we built a responsible Budget surplus of $22bn to give us a buffer for the future.
For the long term, we are prosecuting an economic reform agenda based on:
* Enhancing long term productivity growth by investing in education, skills and training, led by an $11 billion Education Investment Fund.
* Investing in our future infrastructure needs, led by a $20 billion Building Australia Fund.
* Taking practical action to lift workforce participation over time.
* The most comprehensive review of the tax and retirement incomes systems in the last half century.
A strong economy for the long term is fundamental for Australia's ability to support working Australians at home, as well as to be generous in our international assistance efforts.
The Make Poverty History campaign and Oaktree
The difficult global economic conditions will of course have a particularly acute impact on many of the world's poorest nations - who are particularly vulnerable to soaring commodity and food prices.
That makes the work of Oaktree and the Make Poverty History alliance even more important.
I had the honour of attending one of the first Oaktree Vision Nights at Carey Grammar, not long after meeting Hugh Evans in Parliament House.
The sheer passion of the team was remarkable.
They understood:
* That a world in which half the human population lives on less than $2 per day, is not fair, and not tolerable.
* That we cannot put up with 30,000 children every day dying of preventable illnesses.
* And that quite small amounts of money for people in a wealthy nation like ours, can have big impacts for people in the world's poorest nations.
The extremes of global poverty make for heavy reading - but what has always struck me about people in Oaktree is their refusal to engage in a counsel of despair.
They want to take responsibility.
To act. To lend a hand to those who really need it.
To inspire young Australians to believe that they can make a difference. And to act on that belief.
And with a passion to mobilise young Australians to work together and bring new hope to people in the developing world.
Oaktree has now branched out into every state on the mainland, building links, I understand, to over 200 schools and mobilising more than 15,000 supporters.
It is an outstanding example of the fantastic youth movements that have risen up in Australia in recent years - like Oxfam's youth movement, Vision Generation at World Vision, the church-based Micah Challenge - all part of the wider Make Poverty History coalition.
Oaktree's achievements in just five years have been substantial - from the Schools for Schools program building partnerships between schools in Australia and the developing word, to the creative and eye-catching campaigns to lift awareness of the fight to end extreme poverty.
I was delighted to support Oaktree and the Make Poverty History concert in Melbourne in 2006.
I am told that somewhere there's even footage of me dancing to the Hilltop Hoods that night.
The good news is, that is not up for auction tonight.
I was pleased also to join the concert for the Make Poverty History Zero Seven Road Trip at the Sydney Opera House last year.
That was where I made the announcement that in government, Labor will lift Australia's overseas development assistance to 0.5 per cent of Gross National Income by 2015.
Australia's aid commitment
We will honour that commitment - and in this year's Budget, we made our first step, raising development assistance by $505 million to a total of $3.7 billion for 2008-09.
As one of the nations that signed on to the Millennium Development Goals in 2000, Australia accepts our responsibility to help make those goals a reality.
Those eight goals are the shared development priorities for the international community.
They include halving extreme poverty by 2015 and achieving universal primary education by 2015.
Australia has a very special responsibility to help nations in our immediate region.
The success of economic development is critical to the long term security of our region.
But progress among the Pacific island countries towards the Millennium Development Goals has been mixed at best.
That is why Pacific island countries are a major focus of our development assistance program.
They are in our neighbourhood, and Australia wants to be a good neighbour.
We know that they face some real challenges.
Some countries have gone backwards against some of the key goals.
It is clear that we need a new approach to assisting these countries build a sustainable future.
That is why, in March when I visited Port Moresby, I issued the Port Moresby Declaration.
That Declaration was a commitment by the Australian Government to building long-term relationships with the countries of the Pacific - relationships built on mutual respect, mutual responsibility and mutual cooperation.
Our next step is to work together with Pacific island countries to forge our Pacific Partnerships for Development.
Under these partnerships, we will agree on joint development goals with Pacific island countries.
And we will jointly monitor progress towards the goals.
If the goals are achieved, we will be prepared to offer more assistance.
The partnerships will be tailored to the circumstances of each country, reflecting their particular challenges.
Some of the greatest challenges are faced by the smallest island states - many of whose survival is threatened by the impact of climate change.
I intend to advance our plans for the Pacific Partnerships for Development later this month when I visit Niue - one of the smallest Pacific island states - to attend the annual Pacific Islands Forum Leaders' Meeting.
Already, Australia has announced a $150 million program to assist countries in our region to tackle the impacts of climate change.
In addition, through AusAID we will be funding two new positions for youth ambassadors to help us in the fight against climate change.
AusAID has now begun advertising these two positions.
One will be an Environment and Climate Change Officer with the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation in Beijing.
Their job will be to coordinate the implementation of the UN-China Climate Change Partnership Framework.
The other will be a Climate Change Research Officer with the United National Development Programme Regional Centre in Bangkok.
I would encourage any young people interested in climate change to put their hands up for these positions.
I can also announce tonight that AusAID has just agreed to provide funding for four Australian Development Research Awards to undertake climate change related research in our region.
More than three quarters of a million dollars will be allocated for research into renewable energy and better management of forests.
Deforestation is a critical element in climate change, accounting for around 20 per cent of global carbon emissions.
These awards will fund research on how to combat illegal timber trades, and on economic incentives and governance measures to reduce the contribution of tropical deforestation to climate change.
Australia will also continue to promote the concerns of small island states at risk from climate change.
Last month in my remarks at the G8 Outreach Summit in Japan, I sought to put the spotlight on how climate change threatens their very future.
Australia will also continue to press for the interests of these tiny states at the negotiating table for the global climate change deal that is so important to the interests of the world's poorest people.
The Third Sector
In forging partnerships to tackle the challenges of development and climate change, it is critical that governments work more closely with the non-government sector, or third sector.
But we also recognise that the non-government sector has a critical role to play.
The third sector is often more effective at mobilising support, harnessing the energy of volunteers and developing innovative approaches to entrenched problems at home and overseas.
That is why the Government is committed to strengthening its partnerships with the third sector - because there's things you can do, that we can't.
But equally, the third sector must have the support of government.
Governments have a responsibility to exercise compassion and care for people who need help.
And governments alone can provide the big investments needed to address entrenched disadvantage, whether in Australia or overseas.
What we need - to tackle huge challenges like extreme global poverty, Indigenous disadvantage and homelessness - is to bring together the vitality of the third sector with the resources of government.
In our overseas development assistance, AusAID will continue to build on its relationships with develop assistance organisations.
Oaktree is an outstanding example of the vigour, imagination and leadership in Australia's third sector.
Its efforts add to the enormous contribution that is made by Australia's leading development aid organisations - including World Vision, CARE Australia, Oxfam and Caritas.
Oaktree has also made an important contribution to the Make Poverty History alliance, that has done such an important job in raising the profile of the Millennium Development Goals and the pathway to end extreme poverty.
A new era of philanthropy
Another very positive recent development is World Vision's initiative to establish the Business for Millennium Development organisation.
This highlights the scope for the corporate sector to play a far stronger role in Australia's contribution to development assistance.
This is where most of us here tonight come in.
The Australian people are generous about reaching into their own pockets to help out those in need.
In fact, OECD data indicates that Australians are the world's second most generous private donors to non-government aid organisations.
That is remarkable tribute to the community spirit of Australians, who understand that our responsibility to look after one another does not end at our borders.
But we can still do better.
The third sector cannot achieve its potential without the financial support of the corporate sector and wealthy individuals - just think of the global impact of Bill Gates and Warren Buffett and their inspirational generosity.
Research for the Australian Centre for Philanthropy and Non-Profit Studies earlier this year indicated that the giving of Australia's most affluent people has not even kept pace with their rising incomes in the past decade.
Other evidence suggests that Australia's affluent are only giving a little more than average Australians, and are giving at a lower level than their counterparts in comparable countries such as the UK, Canada and the US.
Simply put, our corporate sector and more affluent Australians can do a better job in contributing to the third sector.
That is why the Government is currently considering the scope of a reform agenda for the third sector.
Philanthropic organisations play an important role in combating social exclusion and enhancing the economic, social, cultural and environmental wellbeing of society.
The role and importance of such groups will be examined by both the comprehensive review of Australia's tax system and the Productivity Commission review of the contribution by the not for profit sector.
The Government can also do better - in fact our generosity lags well behind most wealthy nations, with Australia ranked 15th out of 22 nations for our aid commitment.
We have some great examples of prominent Australians who have made enormous contributions to the wider Australian community through supporting charitable activities.
But we can do more.
Conclusion
In the meantime, I would like to congratulate all of the supporters of the Oaktree Foundation from the business sector that are here tonight.
We all know that tackling poverty and disadvantage is a long-term challenge.
If aid strategies are to be effective, they also need to be long term.
That's why Oaktree needs a secure long-term foundation - both in terms of its future leadership and its financial base.
Oaktree is already making the transition from its ageing founder, Hugh Evans - who turned 25 in March - to a new young leadership team - led by David Toovey, Tom O'Connor, Rachel Hart, Erin Sciola and Brooke Fowles, and supported by the Oaktree volunteers who are at your tables tonight.
It is also important for Oaktree to have a secure financial foundation - so that it can make long term funding commitments to its key programs.
And that's why we're all here tonight.
Tonight is a very important opportunity to establish a sound footing for Oaktree's future.
So tonight, it gives me very great pleasure to officially launch the Oaktree Future Fund.