Page 1 of 9 OFFICIAL OFFICIAL SENATOR THE HON PENNY WONG LEADER OF THE GOVERNMENT IN THE SENATE MINISTER FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS UNITED NATIONS GENERAL ASSEMBLY NATIONAL STATEMENT NEW YORK, FRIDAY 22 SEPTEMBER 2023 President – We created this institution recognising that while our interests as countries may differ, we have shared purpose as people. Because we can only solve our biggest problems together. Because we determined after the last world war to prevent it ever being repeated. Because all of us can see the world as it is – and by listening to each other and by acting together, all of us can choose to shape it for the better. Australia is home to people from all nations of the world. And we draw on the knowledge of First Peoples carrying forward the oldest continuing culture on earth. We know that at this time, when its success has never been needed by more of the world’s peoples,
this institution and our shared multilateral system is falling short of the commitments we have made together. And we are collectively falling further behind. There are more people displaced, and more people hungry. There is more conflict, and greater risk that a nuclear weapon could be used. The climate is changing faster than our combined efforts to stop it. Already, African agricultural productivity has dropped by a third. Within just 22 general assemblies from now, more than 900 million additional people in sub-Saharan Africa will have less water than they need. In many countries - including my own - floods or fires have overwhelmed communities. The most tourism-dependent region in the world, the Caribbean, faces the loss of half its tourism revenue because of extreme weather. Nowhere is the climate threat more profound than in the Pacific. Kiribati, Tuvalu and Marshall Islands are
only