Honourable Minister of Finance, Lautimuia Uelese Va’ai
Second Secretary of the NZ High Commission
Members of the Diplomatic Corp
Deputy Secretary General of PASAI, Ms Sarah Markley
Samoan Government Officials
Friends,
Talofa lava. Fa’afetai mo le avanoa e fai ai si na tala pu’upu’u i lenei taeao.
Hello and thank you for the opportunity to address you this morning.
Across the Pacific we share an inheritance of democratic values.
Accountability.
Transparency.
The right to choose our leaders.
Across the Pacific, we invest in strengthening the processes of transparency and accountability in democratic institutions, because we want to contribute to the prosperity of the people and communities we serve.
This principle has underpinned Australia’s support for the Pacific Association of Supreme Audit Institutions (PASAI) for the past 15 years.
PASAI works with Samoa and partners across the Blue Pacific to promote good governance, particularly through effective public sector auditing.
Your work is essential to the growth and development of Pacific countries.
To support the region’s economic recovery from COVID-19, an additional A$314m was provided in Australia’s 2022-23 budget.
In countries like Samoa, much of that funding has been provided as budget support: this mechanism is an expression of our confidence in your government systems.
And it is a fulfillment of Australia’s commitment to support Pacific priorities, and Pacific leadership.
At a national level, Australia is working closely with the Samoan Government to support its work in strengthening its governance systems through our Tautai Partnership.
Through Tautai, we are committed to supporting Government of Samoa’s priority initiatives, capability building, and ongoing training opportunities for Samoa’s public and private sector professionals.
We are providing budget support, alongside New Zealand and multilateral finance institutions, through the Joint Policy Action Matrix.
Australia and Samoa recently commenced a AUD50 million 8-year (2023-31) program of general budget support, principally delivered through Samoa’s JPAM.
To underline the importance of this mechanism, Australia’s exceptional COVID-19 related budget support to Samoa constituted 2.17% of total Samoan Government expenditure in 2021-22 and 4.47% in 2022-23.
And I am sure there are examples from across the Pacific of PASAI institutions playing a critical role in ensuring Pacific countries can make the most of their development partnerships.
I acknowledge the focus of this symposium which is on women in leadership in the public sector.
In this respect, Samoa serves as an example regionally and globally in its efforts to empower more women in leadership.
Prime Minister Fiame, Minister of Women, Community and Social Development; CEO of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade; CEO of the Ministry of Finance; Governor of the Central Bank – these are some of the women leaders serving in the public sector, and who we will hear from this week.
Australia believes that women’s voices in leadership positions are crucial. They are crucial to ensuring we maximise opportunities for our people, that we maximise economic growth and human development.
If budget support is to be successful in delivering broad based development, then it is crucial that women play a role in shaping government policy.
Australia is pleased to be delivering support to that effort.
Australia’s commitment to gender equality is a cross-cutting priority across all our development partnerships.
An estimated A$1.5 billion is supporting gender equality across Australia’s development program.
Of this $1.5 billion, more than $500 million will be spent in the Pacific.
This reflects our belief that diverse perspectives in the decision-making process are essential for equitable, resilient, and prosperous societies.
Next week we are honoured to be welcoming Australia’s Ambassador for Gender Equality, Stephanie Copus Campbell to Samoa.
Her visit will be an opportunity for both our nations to learn more from one another and collaborate on initiatives that continues to support and empower women.
To Samoa’s college students present here today: you are tomorrow’s leaders. I hope you will be inspired by the experiences and lessons shared by some of Samoa’s illustrious female leaders.
And in closing, may I challenge all those present today to find opportunities in your organisations to support women in positions of leadership, and to find opportunities for developing those leaders in generations to come.
Thank you again for the opportunity to speak this morning.
Soifua ma ia manuia.
