Australia

General Assembly Sixty-Ninth Session
22 April 2015

Intergovernmental Negotiations on the Post-2015 Development Agenda

Statement by Ms Kushla Munro
Assistant Secretary, Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade

In particular we thank the Co-facilitators of the Financing for Development negotiations, Ambassador Talbot and Ambassador Pederson for their informative briefing. We are pleased to see that the negotiations to agree an updated framework for development finance are progressing well.

For the Addis outcome to be a success, it must build on the elements of the Monterrey Consensus that set up a successful financing framework for the Millennium Development Goals. It must equip all countries to seize the development financing opportunities of the future. And it must build confidence for the delivery of the Sustainable Development Goals.

To do this, we are seeking an Addis outcome that:

• is practical and policy-relevant – it must provide genuine and clear guidance to governments on how to attain financing goals,
• is simple and comprehensible to policymakers,
• builds confidence for the SDGs by providing clear commitments and deliverables that are implementable, and
• balances the focus on financing inputs with the delivery of real and sustainable development outcomes.

To achieve sustainable development outcomes, Australia considers first and foremost that the Addis outcome should form the MOI outcome for the post-2015 framework.

There should also be a single and simple process for monitoring and follow up, rather than duplicated processes.






One issue that needs more attention is how we can renew and strengthen the global partnership to support implementation of the new agenda. The goals and targets are ambitious, and we must have an equally ambitious global partnership to match.

Implementing the new agenda is the responsibility of all of us. We acknowledge that ODA will continue to play an important role and we should look for ways to maximise the impact of ODA by using it catalytically. But we must also look far beyond governments alone to reflect the realities of the changed development landscape.

For Australia, a renewed global partnership illustrates the important role played by a range of actors including the governments, private sector, philanthropics and civil society. These partnerships must be founded on openness, trust and mutual respect and responsibility and focus on where we can capitalise on our respective expertise.

A renewed global partnership harnesses innovation to maximise the impact of our development assistance. The private sector has a critical role to play in this, not just for the financial flows it contributes, but the knowledge and expertise it can share.

A clear example of this is the success of the Global Fund which, through harnessing the private sector, contributed to a reduction in malaria-related mortality by around 20 per cent over the span of the MDGs.

To conclude, as we and many others have reiterated, strong coordination and careful sequencing between the post-2015 and FfD processes is vital. The Addis outcome should form the MOI outcome for the post-2015 framework.

To this end, we are encouraged by progress being made in the FfD negotiations, and we have confidence in that process delivering a comprehensive and integrated outcome on these issues.

Thank you.