Meetings

The PGPD holds regular meetings throughout the year. The latest information on PGPD meetings and events is available from the PGPD e-newsletter.

In March 2008 the PGPD elected Senator Claire Moore as its new Chair.

The PGPD meets with international dignitaries and speakers from the population, HIV/AIDS, reproductive health and environment fields to discuss current issues and how Australia and the PGPD can most effectively work to promote reproductive health and development internationally.

2010 meetings

• 22 June
  
  The PGPD hosted a joint briefing with the Parliamentary Liaison Group on HIV, Blood Borne Viruses and STIs on the new National Strategies on: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander STIs and Blood Borne Viruses; Hepatitis B; Hepatits C; STIs; and HIV
  
  Professor Michael Kidd AM, Chair of the Ministerial Advisory Committee on Blood Borne Viruses and STIs, briefed the Groups.
  
  
• 16 March
  Guest speaker - Dr Jackie Blue MP, Chair of the New Zealand Parliamentary Group on Population and Development. Dr Blue presented the report of the NZPPD’s open hearing on maternal health in the Pacific held last September – Making Maternal Health Matter.
  
  
  From L to R - Robert Oakeshott MP, Jackie Edmond (CEO NZ Family Planning), Senator Louise Pratt, Senator Anne McEwen, Senator Claire Moore (PGPD Chair), Hon. Duncan Kerr MP, Dr Mal Washer MP, Dr Jackie Blue MP (NZPPD Chair), Ruth Webber (PGPD Secretariat)
  
  
  
• 25 February
  Guest speaker - Dr Sharon Camp, President and CEO of the Guttmacher Institute.
  
  Dr Camp's presentation argued that that doubling investments in family planning and maternal and newborn health would reduce maternal mortality by 70% and nearly halve newborn deaths. The Guttmacher Institute is the world’s leading sexual and reproductive health think tank.
  
  Click here to read Guttmacher's report - ‘Adding it Up: The Benefits of Investing in Family Planning and Maternal and Newborn Health’
  
  Click here to listen to Dr Camp interviewed on Radio National Life Matters
  
  
  Senator Claire Moore (PGPD Chair), Dr Sharon Camp and Senator Louise Pratt
  
  

2009 Meetings

• 23 November
  Guest speakers - Jane Sloane, International Women's Development Agency and Amanda Jennings, AusAID
  
  
• The PGPD launched the UNFPA State of World Population Report 2009 on 18 November at Parliament House, Canberra. For more information on the Report visit the UNFPA website.
  
  
• 10 September
  Guest speaker - Mark Thomson, Australian Strategic Policy Institute
  
  
• 20 August
  
  
• 23 June
  Guest speaker - Sue Ndwala, World Vision Australia Maternal and Child Health Advisor
  
  
• 26 May
  Guests - The Hon. Eta Rory MP from the Vanuatu National Parliament and Ms Josephine Teakeni BEM from Vois Blong Mere Solomon (women’s advocacy and media NGO in the Solomon Islands)

• 4 February

2008 Meetings and Events

• 12 November 2008
  
  

  

  The PGPD launched the UNFPA State of World Population 2008 Report in November 2008 at Parliament House, Canberra. The Hon. Bob McMullan MP, Parliamentary Secretary for International Development Assistance and a long-time member of the PGPD launched the Report with Mr Ian Howie, UNFPA Representative in Vietnam.

  The report's theme is Reaching Common Ground: Culture, Gender and Human Rights.

• 4 September 2008
  - PGPD addressed by representatives of aid agencies - Marie Stopes International Australia, CARE Australia, Sexual Health and Family Planning Australia.
  
  
• 26 June 2008
  Guest - Mr Najib Assifi, UNFPA Pacific
  
  

  The PGPD launched the Framework for a National Sexual and Reproductive Health Strategy for Australia in June 2008. The Framework calls for a for a comprehensive and evidence-based national sexual and reproductive health strategy to improve the health of all in our community, both women and men. It is supported by the Australian Reproductive Health Alliance (ARHA), the Public Health Association of Australia (PHAA) and Sexual Health and Family Planning Australia (SH&FPA).

  
  
  
  For more information - Background Paper and Call to Action

• 13 March 2008
  Senator Claire Moore (ALP) was unanimously elected as the new PGPD chair. Ms Julia Burns, Executive Director of the Australian Government Office for Women briefed the group on the 52nd session of the Commission on the Status of Women at the UN in New York from which she had recently returned.
  
  
• 18 February 2008
  The PGPD launched the SPRINT Initiative (Sexual and Reproductive Health Programme in Crisis and Post-Crisis Situations in South East Asia and the Pacific) in Parliament House. SPRINT website
  

Examples of previous meetings

• March 2007 PGPD meeting - UNFPA Visit to Australia

Mr Sultan Aziz, UNFPA Director of Asia & Pacific & Mr Najib Assifi, UNFPA Pacific Represenative, addressed the March PGPD meeting during their Australian visit. This was followed by a dinner with some PGPD members at Parliament House.

They noted that the PGPD is essential in driving sexual and reproductive health issues in the Asia Pacific region but there are still many challenges such as obstetric fistula, which affects about 3.5 million women worldwide, predominately in countries like Nepal, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Bangladesh and India. The consequences for women include chronic incontinence and social exclusion. Mr Aziz also advised that every year there are 100,000 new cases of fistula - the tragedy is that 90% of these could be successfully treated. Mr Aziz outlined UNFPA's strategy to reduce the number of fistulas.

Mr Assifi and Mr Aziz held talks with other non-government organisations, PGPD members, AusAID representatives and ANU researchers. They discussed the importance of increasing support for sexual and reproductive health activities in the region, strategies to counteract gender-based violence and improve the status of women and girls, and established contacts for future research projects.
See photo of their visit

• On May 25th 2005 the PGPD met with Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, Hon Alexander Downer MP, to discuss Australia's position on the Millennium Development Goals.

• On March 16th 2005 the PGPD met with Dr Thoraya Obaid, Executive Director of the United Nations Population Fund. On this occasion the PGPD Chair made this statement.

• On February 19th 2004 the PGPD hosted a breakfast meeting with Dr. Richard Feachem, Executive Director of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. Dr Feachem also met with Minister for Foreign Affairs Alexander Downer and with PGPD support negotiated an Australian contribution to the Global Fund.

  Last updated - June 23, 2010