As the Australian Government commits to increase aid and work for the Millennium Development Goals, there will be new opportunities for wider engagement in reducing poverty and supporting equitable and sustainable outcomes in our region and beyond. Non-government organisations, business, the education sector, faith groups, local communities, media, volunteers and others all have a part to play.

How can we best build new partnerships for development that reflect the commitment of the Australian community to act on poverty and development? How can we combine skills, ingenuity and resources here with those in developing countries to create new opportunities and generate solutions to the challenges ahead.

Venue

Canberra, ACT

Date & time

Tuesday, 7 October 2008 6:00 PM

MODERATOR

Professor Hilary Charlesworth as moderator an internationally renowned thinker and commentator on international law and human rights with a strong interest in gender, Director of the Centre for International Governance and Justice and Professor of International Law and Human Rights at the ANU. Professor Charlesworth is an Australian Research Council Federation Fellow and has held visiting appointments at Washington & Lee School of Law, as Manley O. Hudson Visiting Professor of International Law at Harvard Law School, New York University Global Law School as Wayne Morse Professor at the University of Oregon, and at Université de Paris (Paris I). She was the winner (with Christine Chinkin) of the Goler T. Butcher Medal awarded by the American Society of International Law in 2006 for “Outstanding contributions to the development of international human rights law.”

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SPEAKERS

The Hon Bob McMullan MP. Parliamentary Secretary for International Development Assistance

In February 1988, Bob was sworn in as Senator for the Australian Capital Territory. In 1990 he was appointed Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasurer and in 1991 became Manager of Government Business in the Senate. In 1993 Bob was appointed Minister for the Arts and Administrative Services and became a member of the Cabinet, the first time the Arts portfolio was represented in Cabinet. In January 1994, he was appointed Minister for Trade. Following a redistribution of Canberra’s House of Representative seats, Bob stood for the seat of Canberra in 1996, and was elected. Following a redistribution in 1998, Bob became Member for Fraser. Between 1996 and 2007 Bob held a number of Shadow Ministerial positions. After the election of the Rudd Government in November 2007 Bob was appointed as Parliamentary Secretary for International Development Assistance.

Bruce Jenks - Assistant Secretary-General and Director of the Partnerships Bureau, United Nations Development Program (UNDP), responsible for relationships with UNDP’s key constituencies and development partners including the International Financial Institutions, civil society, the private sector and foundations. Mr Jenks has worked with UNDP since 1981 in roles including Director of Budget, and UNDP Representative in Brussels. He holds a Ph.D in International Relations from Oxford University, and M.A.s from Cambridge University and John Hopkins SAIS. He is in Australia for the Business for Millennium Development Summit 08.

Professor Katherine Gibson - an economic geographer from the Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies, Professor Gibson has written widely on alternatives to capitalism including feminist critiques. Committed to action research with communities interested in reshaping economic practices to fit local needs, her research interests include alternative regional economic development in the Asia-Pacific region, Australia and the US; and international contract migration and community economic activism in our region.

George Savvides - Managing Director of Medibank Private, Australia’s largest private health insurer, covering nearly three million people and representing about 30% of the market. Mr Savvides is a Councillor of the Australian Health Insurance Association and the International Federation of Health Plans, and a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors. He is also a Director of World Vision Australia and World Vision International, and Director of the Australian Centre for Health Research Limited - all of which gives him a special insight into the partnerships that can be achieved between business and the community to contribute to international development.