Today, we have welcomed a statement from the Australian Labor Party committing the party to work towards the achievement of the United Nations’ 17 Global Goals for Sustainable Development for 2030.
The statement was issued by Federal Shadow Minister for Environment, Climate Change and Water, Mark Butler, following a request from Global Goals Australia Campaign HQ sent to all federal election candidates a week ago. In his statement, Mr Butler stated “Labor is committed to supporting the [Global Goals] and a Shorten Labor Government will rise to the challenge set by the [goals].” Mr Butler went on to explain how “Labor’s positive plans for the future put people first: better paid and protected jobs; better schools and teachers; a healthier Australia; investing in renewables to cut pollution and boost jobs; and making multinationals pay their fair share.” Each of these priorities align with the 169 targets set by the Global Goals.
We were delighted to receive support from one of the major parties, and we remain hopeful the current Coalition government will follow suit. Both major parties initially responded that their commitment to the Global Goals was contained in their Foreign Aid funding. However, when we pointed out that Australia’s commitment, signed by Foreign Minister Julie Bishop in New York last year, requires Australia to achieve 169 targets set for the 17 goals domestically as well as supporting poorer and less well developed nations, Labor Campaign HQ demonstrated their understanding by talking about their commitment to health (Goal 3), Education (Goal 4) and faster internet connectivity (Goal 9) in terms of the Global Goals.
Thus far, we have received a very mixed response to our email campaign asking all candidates to indicate their level of support for the goals. There have been conflicting views, even within the same parties. It is obvious from the responses that there is little understanding of what Australia has committed to among politicians both practicing and aspiring. We believe the Global Goals are the way forward for Australia and our campaign is aimed at increasing the level of awareness and understanding of the goals committed to by all 193 member nations of the United Nations. We are currently waiting a response from the Liberal Party and the Greens to demonstrate they understand Australia’s commitment to the Global Goals, and that they are dedicated to achieving the 17 goals by 2030.
This article was originally published on the Global Goals Australia Campaign website.