Thank you.
I'd like to acknowledge the Traditional Owners of the lands on which we meet tonight, the Ngunnawal people.
I pay my respects to their Elders past and present.
And I also acknowledge any First Nations people in the room.
Thank you to Matthew and the Australian Council for International Development for bringing us all together.
And to my parliamentary colleagues who are here tonight.
It's wonderful to be joined by so many friends from across the development sector – including the Executive Director of the Pacific Islands Association of NGOs, Emeline Siale Ilolahia.
One of the biggest privileges of my role as Minister for International Development is working with people like you – who dedicate their lives to building a kinder, fairer world.
I think this year's conference theme, Mobilising the Collective: Reshaping Systems for a Just Future, captures both the challenge and the opportunity before us.
Because no single government, organisation or community can navigate the uncertain path ahead alone.
Whether we're talking about climate change, conflict, displacement, food insecurity, rising cost of living or growing inequality – our progress will depend on our ability to work together, to bring our different expertise to the table.
And to build systems that are more resilient, inclusive and responsive to the people they serve.
In many ways, this is precisely what ACFID's founders recognised back in the 1960s.
They were united by a belief that collective action could achieve more than individual efforts.
More than six decades on, ACFID and its members continue to help ensure that Australia's development program reflects Australian values.
Fairness. Respect. Compassion. And partnership.
Values which are reflected in the work of your organisations, giving people the chance to live with dignity, agency and hope.
ACFID's founding members came together in the spirit of collaboration fostered by strong relationships.
This is the foundation of individual and community wellbeing.
Relationships between neighbours, between families and between communities.
For me, the importance of relationships is not only a principle of development, it's something I have learned firsthand.
Shortly after my family migrated to Australia from Egypt, we found ourselves in Brisbane, establishing a new life.
Then came the floods of 1974.
Like so many other families, we lost much of what we had worked so hard to build.
But what I remember most vividly is not what was lost.
What I remember is the response from the community around us.
Neighbours helping neighbours.
People turning up simply because help was needed and expecting nothing in return.
In many ways, that flood was one of the most difficult experiences my family faced after arriving in Australia.
Yet it was also one of the first times I truly felt Australian.
Because in that moment, I experienced something that transcended language and cultural differences.
I experienced belonging.
And that belonging came through relationships.
What was true for my family then is equally true for our world today.
In times of uncertainty, relationships matter most.
They are the foundation for mutual understanding and collaboration in a more divided world.
They are integral to the shared future we are building together.
A future which appears increasingly uncertain.
Climate change is impacting lives and economies around the world.
Humanitarian need is growing.
Geopolitical competition is intensifying.
Conflict continues to exact a devastating human toll.
The rules and norms that have long underpinned our international order are being tested.
Human rights are being eroded.
Decades of hard-won development gains are under threat.
At the same time, development financing is under significant pressure, with traditional donors reducing their aid budgets.
I know many of you are feeling these pressures acutely as you undertake your important work.
You're experiencing rising costs, funding uncertainty, greater competition for fewer resources and more difficult operating environments.
Under these challenging circumstances, the answer is not to retreat from international engagement.
The answer is to strengthen cooperation.
To unite and invest in strong partnerships that form the foundation for a stable, more resilient and more prosperous region and world.
The foundation from which together, we will rise to meet the challenges before us.
It's why, as the global development landscape undergoes seismic shifts, the Albanese Labor Government has made a choice to remain a stable and reliable development partner.
A lot has changed in the three years since we launched the first International Development Policy in a decade.
But the principles that underpin our approach to development, partnership, local leadership and transparency, are just as important today.
And I am proud that our Government has maintained our investment in Official Development Assistance.
But in a resource-scarce environment, every dollar matters more than ever.
And we cannot fill every gap that has emerged.
So, we're ensuring our investment is targeted to where Australia can make the biggest difference – which is why more than three quarters of every development dollar is benefiting the Indo-Pacific.
We know that Australian NGOs and your local partners are integral to the delivery of our development program.
It's why we have increased funding for the Australian NGO Cooperation Program.
A program which supports hundreds of NGO-led initiatives and millions of people across more than 50 countries.
Going forward, I'm pleased that we'll work with ACFID and the Pacific Islands Association of Non-Governmental Organisations, as well as The Asia Foundation, to deliver the Civil Society Partnerships Fund.
Because civic space that is open, diverse, accessible and resilient is integral to empowering people and communities across the Indo-Pacific.
And we know that local leadership is key to delivering successful development outcomes that respond to the needs of communities for the long term.
Just as strong relationships underpin our development cooperation across the Indo-Pacific, they are vital to address shared global challenges.
It's why Australia's commitment to genuine partnership does not stop at our borders.
It extends to the global stage.
Our Government is heavily engaged across multilateral forums, and we're working with our international partners to strengthen safeguards for humanitarian workers around the world.
Aid workers who dedicate themselves to helping others in crisis should never ever have to pay for their service with their lives.
It's why Australia has led the development of a Declaration for the Protection of Humanitarian Personnel – which has achieved historic support from 132 countries - more than two thirds of the United Nations.
And we are continuing to drive practical action to protect frontline humanitarian personnel.
But achievements like this do not happen by governments alone.
They are the product of partnership.
Government brings resources, diplomacy and policy.
Civil society brings deep local expertise and long-standing, trusted relationships with people around the world.
Together, we can and do achieve outcomes neither could deliver alone.
We see this every day across the development and humanitarian programs that our Government's ANCP partners are delivering.
In South Sudan, World Vision is building economic opportunities for women and girls affected by conflict, climate shocks and food insecurity.
Women farmers are receiving climate-smart training, nutritional education and access to resources to start or grow their small businesses.
In Lebanon, APHEDA is partnering with a local organisation led by Palestinian refugee women to deliver education to vulnerable children.
Local women are not only able to access psychosocial and other supports themselves through the program, they are driving and delivering it as educators, advocates, carers and decisionmakers.
Last year I visited Cox's Bazar in Bangladesh for the second time.
Home to more than 1.1 million displaced Rohingya people, Cox's Bazar has the largest population of any refugee camp in the world, yet it occupies just 24 square kilometres – around a quarter of the size of my electorate.
Here, many of your organisations – including the Australian Humanitarian Partnership – are delivering lifesaving assistance and access to shelter, food, WASH, education and disability services.
Different countries.
Different challenges.
Different contexts.
But the same commitment.
Supporting people through periods of crisis.
And helping create the conditions for a life with dignity and hope.
In our region, Australia's partnerships with civil society are empowering local communities to lead their own development.
In Vanuatu, communities are devising local measures to respond to climate change through World Vision's Urban Climate Resilience Project.
In the Eastern Highlands of Papua New Guinea, CARE PNG is working with communities in flood-prone areas to develop early warning systems.
In Samoa, we see the Women in Business Development initiative supporting women to grow and sell produce at local markets – generating sustainable incomes which are strengthening local economies.
These are communities coming up with solutions to the unique challenges they face – and taking charge of their own futures.
This is the type of development that has the best chance of enduring because it is locally led and focuses on agency.
Local communities understand their challenges better than anyone else. They know what they need.
They know what works and what will stick.
And we can only succeed if local communities are at the centre of shaping development outcomes.
If we are serious about reshaping systems for a more just future, then we must continue to shift decision-making, resources and leadership closer to communities themselves.
Doing development better also means stronger safeguards, greater transparency and accountability, and finding new ways to mobilise investment.
Traditional aid remains essential, but public funding alone cannot meet the scale of today's challenges.
We need to attract new sources of investment and harness private capital.
This is why our government is supporting NGOs to create blended finance structures.
Through the NGO Blended Finance Accelerator, we're creating the environment for organisations like Save the Children, Good Return and Oxfam to unlock a pipeline of up to $141 million in prospective private investment.
This will support organisations to scale up support for women-led and climate-resilient micro, small and medium businesses, to back early-stage climate-smart enterprises in Cambodia, Indonesia and Timor-Leste. And to drive health ventures that will improve outcomes for women and children.
This is the kind of innovation we need to embrace to safeguard the future of development.
Partnerships that connect the goodwill of private investors with our development program.
Just as NGOs connect the goodwill of everyday Australians with communities across our region and the world.
No example of the generosity of Australians is clearer than the support that we've seen mobilised in response to the devastating floods in Nepal.
To date, Australians have donated over $20 million to appeals by the Emergency Action Alliance, the Australian Red Cross and other Australian NGOs.
That is an extraordinary response. Just last week, our Government announced a further $15 million to support recovery from the floods – building on $11 million for immediate response efforts, including through Australian NGOs.
We can have an enormous impact when we work together and share knowledge and information.
When Australians have a clear understanding of how their money is being spent.
It serves as a reminder that we all have a role to play to lift confidence in our aid program and build social licence.
Because we simply cannot safeguard Australia's development program without sustained support from the public.
Support which we cannot take for granted.
Because the reality is, the drivers that have led to aid cuts around the world are playing out here too.
And we have a responsibility to demonstrate the difference our aid program is making, and why development work matters.
Not just because it's the right thing to do, but because the trust we have built through our development program is contributing to the stability and prosperity of our region – and ultimately to our stability and prosperity as a nation.
Because the future prosperity of Australians is intrinsically tied to the prosperity of the Indo-Pacific.
And because our aid program reflects Australian values.
The development sector has powerful stories to tell about how we are building resilience, recovery, opportunity and partnership.
These development stories resonate with Australians who – as we have seen – want to lend a helping hand to people in need.
The responsibility to demonstrate that their public money is being invested wisely, transparently and effectively lies with government.
It's why we've committed to rebuilding transparency and accountability across the development program – including by launching AusDevPortal which provides easy access to information on our investments.
But transparency is not an end in itself.
It is part of the broader work of building stronger, more effective systems.
If this conference theme reminds us of anything, it is that systems do not reshape themselves.
Systems are shaped by people.
By the choices we make.
By the values we champion.
And by the relationships we invest in.
I spoke earlier about my family's experience of the Brisbane floods.
What has stayed with me throughout my life is not the event itself.
It is the kindness that followed.
The neighbours who showed up.
The community that rallied around us.
The people who reminded my family that we were not alone and who became permanent fixtures in our life.
In that moment, as a newly arrived migrant, I learned something powerful.
That resilience is not something we build by ourselves.
Resilience is built together, through connection, trust, solidarity and through relationships.
Those same principles are what drive effective development.
They are what sustain communities through conflict and disaster.
They are what allow local leaders, civil society organisations, governments and international partners to solve problems that none of us could solve alone.
And they are what give people hope, even in the most difficult circumstances.
So, as we look to the future, let us continue to mobilise the collective.
Let us continue to strengthen the partnerships that underpin progress.
And let us continue to reshape systems so that they are fairer, more inclusive and more responsive.
Because a more just future for the generations that come after us will not be built by any one government, organisation or individual.
It will be built together.
Thank you.