Help Fight Famine: letters to Parliament
Stories | October 13, 2022
Since July, many CBM Australia supporters have joined our call for MPs across the political spectrum to lobby the Albanese government to urgently fund a famine relief package and other measures to address the global food crisis, which has led to 50 million people battling starvation.
These efforts resulted in some initial success in early October, when the Minister for International Development and the Pacific, Pat Conroy, announced $15 million in funding to help relieve severe food insecurity already affecting millions of people across the Horn of Africa, including in Kenya and Yemen.
This was a welcome contribution by the government, with $5 million of the funding going toward an appeal for donations by the Emergency Action Alliance (EAA), of which CBM is a founding member. Read more about the EAA here. Funds will bolster work we are already doing to support people with disabilities in drought-stricken Kenya.
However, the situation is dire and more needs to be done urgently. Research and case studies continue to show that the increase in global hunger is far more likely to affect people with disabilities who are already living in poverty – especially women with disabilities. This neglect of the most disadvantaged cannot be allowed to continue.
By supporting #HelpFightFamine, you’ve added your voice to 1000s of Australians who’ve directly asked their representative in Canberra to work with the government and fund a $150 million emergency relief package in October’s federal budget, plus other food security measures. We need to keep up the pressure, so keep encouraging friends and family to write to their MP too.
Recently we took action as part of the Micah Women Leaders’ Delegation to Parliament House, meeting with Minister Conroy (pictured below). Our representatives, Edwina Faithfull-Farmer and Stevie Wills, also held meetings with numerous other MPs from all sides of politics to discuss Australia’s response to the global food crisis.
#HelpFightFamine is a campaign launched by a broader alliance of development organisations that belong to the Australian Council for International Development (ACFID). Together we aim to increase Australia’s commitment to long-term investment in international development and humanitarian assistance.
Read the latest media reports and the campaign’s budget discussion paper.
https://www.cbm.org.au/stories/help-fight-famine-letters-to-parliament
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