In Conversation with Baroness Amos PP

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www.ungobalcompact.org.au Level 5, 104 Bathurst Street, Sydney NSW 2000 I +61 2 9016 4278 PO BOX 21460, World Square, Sydney NSW 2002 I Opening Address to the UNGCNA Leadership Forum with Baroness Valerie Amos, United Nations Under-Secretary- General and Emergency Relief Coordinator: “How can business be more involved when it comes to emergency relief and humanitarian affairs?” Matthew Tukaki: Speaker Notes: The Barangaroo Delivery Authority, 7 th November of 2012 Matthew Tukaki, Australian Representative, the United Nations Global Compact, CEO and Chairman of the Sustain Group - Executive Biography: Matthew Tukaki is Australia’s Representative to the United Nations Global Compact where he represents business and industry when it comes to Human Rights, Anti-Corruption, the Environment and Labour. Matthew also holds a number of other roles in the Australian private and public sector as the CEO and Chairman of the Sustain Group, Member of the Board of Australia’s Indigenous Chamber of Commerce, Member of the Board of one of Australia’s Peak Mental Health Bodies, Suicide Prevention Australia, a member of Deakin Universities Centre for Sustainable and Responsible Organisations Advisory board and Chairman of the Living Earth Initiative, a project that seeks to promote environmental science and backyard ecology amongst students and young people. Baroness Valerie Amos, United Nations Under-Secretary General and Emergency Relief Coordinator: Ms. Amos has a long-standing commitment to development, particularly on the African continent. As a Minister in the British Government, she worked with colleagues globally to tackle poverty in Africa by increasing aid flows through debt relief initiatives and promoting private- sector investment on the continent. She has been active for over 30 years on the promotion of human rights, social justice and equality on the African continent. Ms. Amos was the first black woman appointed to a British Cabinet and the first black Leader of the House of Lords. In the United Kingdom, she has played a central role in the Government’s broader diversity and community- cohesion agenda. She is currently Chair of the Royal African Society, a member of the Fulbright Commission and a Fellow at the Centre for Corporate Reputation, University of Oxford. Opening and Welcome Address Begins: Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen and thank you Donna (Ingram: from the Metropolitan Land Council) for that wonderful welcome to country. I would also like to acknowledge the Indigenous owners of the land on which we meet today and pay my respects to the ancestors and elders both past and present. Of course, I would like to welcome Baroness Valerie Amos back to Sydney and to Australia but this time in one of the key, and I would argue one of the most important roles within the UN system, as Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief. The question of refugees fleeing to camps from Syria or, the ever unfolding crisis in the horn of Africa, are just some of the things Valerie has to deal with. I would also like to welcome my colleague Chris Woodthorpe, the Secretary General’s Representative to Australia and our partners for today’s leadership forum, Tony Watson and the Barangaroo Delivery Authority, Marilyn Forsythe, President of Business Professional Women

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Opening Address to the UNGCNA Leadership Forum with Baroness Valerie Amos, United Nations Under-Secretary-General and Emergency Relief Coordinator: “How can business be more involved when it comes to emergency relief and humanitarian affairs?”

Transcript of In Conversation with Baroness Amos PP

Page 1: In Conversation with Baroness Amos PP

www.ungobalcompact.org.au

Level 5, 104 Bathurst Street, Sydney NSW 2000 I +61 2 9016 4278

PO BOX 21460, World Square, Sydney NSW 2002 I

Opening Address to the UNGCNA Leadership Forum with Baroness Valerie Amos, United Nations Under-Secretary-General and Emergency Relief Coordinator: “How can business be more involved when it comes to emergency relief and humanitarian affairs?” Matthew Tukaki: Speaker Notes: The Barangaroo Delivery Authority, 7th November of 2012

Matthew Tukaki, Australian Representative, the United Nations Global Compact, CEO and Chairman of the Sustain Group - Executive Biography: Matthew Tukaki is Australia’s Representative to the United Nations Global Compact where he represents business and industry when it comes to Human Rights, Anti-Corruption, the Environment and Labour. Matthew also holds a number of other roles in the Australian private and public sector as the CEO and Chairman of the Sustain Group, Member of the Board of Australia’s Indigenous Chamber of Commerce, Member of the Board of one of Australia’s Peak Mental Health Bodies, Suicide Prevention Australia, a member of Deakin Universities Centre for Sustainable and Responsible Organisations Advisory board and Chairman of the Living Earth Initiative, a project that seeks to promote environmental science and backyard ecology amongst students and young people.

Baroness Valerie Amos, United Nations Under-Secretary General and Emergency Relief Coordinator: Ms. Amos has a long-standing commitment to development, particularly on the African continent. As a Minister in the British Government, she worked with colleagues globally to tackle poverty in Africa by increasing aid flows through debt relief initiatives and promoting private-sector investment on the continent. She has been active for over 30 years on the promotion of human rights, social justice and equality on the African continent. Ms. Amos was the first black woman appointed to a British Cabinet and the first black Leader of the House of Lords. In the United Kingdom, she has played a central role in the Government’s broader diversity and community-cohesion agenda. She is currently Chair of the Royal African Society, a member of the Fulbright Commission and a Fellow at the Centre for Corporate Reputation, University of Oxford.

Opening and Welcome Address Begins:

Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen and thank you Donna (Ingram: from the Metropolitan Land Council) for that wonderful welcome to country. I would also like to acknowledge the Indigenous owners of the land on which we meet today and pay my respects to the ancestors and elders both past and present. Of course, I would like to welcome Baroness Valerie Amos back to Sydney and to Australia but this time in one of the key, and I would argue one of the most important roles within the UN system, as Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief. The question of refugees fleeing to camps from Syria or, the ever unfolding crisis in the horn of Africa, are just some of the things Valerie has to deal with. I would also like to welcome my colleague Chris Woodthorpe, the Secretary General’s Representative to Australia and our partners for today’s leadership forum, Tony Watson and the Barangaroo Delivery Authority, Marilyn Forsythe, President of Business Professional Women

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www.ungobalcompact.org.au

Level 5, 104 Bathurst Street, Sydney NSW 2000 I +61 2 9016 4278

PO BOX 21460, World Square, Sydney NSW 2002 I

Australia and Nareen Young and the Diversity Council Australia. I would also like to thank our out of town participants for joining us and not just from Interstate. Michelle Olivier joins us all the way from Casino and the Richmond Valley on the border of Queensland. Michelle is currently doing her PH.D on sustainability and I have no doubt she herself one day will contribute a lot to the UN system. We have Professor Stuart Rees and his team from the Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies. Many of you will now of the Sydney Peace Prize that has this year been awarded to Senator Sekai Holland from Zimbabwe – well Sekai is giving her lecture this evening in the Sydney Town Hall so thank you Stuart for coming along to hear Valerie – and may I suggest a worthy nominee for the future? We have my old friend Ron Wakil, the newly appointed Consul General to Sierra Leone with us today – there is no doubt many if not all of you will be more than aware of what it is taking to rebuild that nation after a long and prolonged conflict. Finally, we have a number of Board Members present – Catherine Hunter from KPMG, Greg Welsh from Sebel, Megan Christensen from Oil Search and Olivia Tyler from Treasury Wine Estates. And of course thank you to each of you for coming along. Now we began 2012 with a leadership forum, much like this one today, where we heard from the United Nations Global Compacts Global Head of Partnerships, Soren Petersen, outlining our work program for the year ahead and how business could be more involved at both the local and global level. Over the last 12 months we have further built and rolled out our Leadership Groups for Business and Industry around Human Rights, Anti-Corruption and the Environment, worked with AusAid as they have developed there private sector development strategy and increased our dialogue with Government and Civil Society organisations across a number of fronts. So the question is what more can business and industry do? We are already beginning our response to some of the key issues and challenges that face us – but what more can we do for those challenges that sometimes seem stratospheric in nature? What more can we do to support water and food security or alleviate poverty? Assist when it comes to emergency relief as first responders but also to remain and work with a country to develop and grow? What more can we do when it comes to the important question of women’s empowerment and gender diversity? How can we play a role that supports the very work Valerie and her team undertake every day. These are all questions I would like you to think about as we get this afternoon underway. So we end our Leadership series for 2012 posing bigger, but now different questions, that we can truly cut our teeth on in the coming months and year ahead - because as I have said time and time again, even when I was head of one of this countries largest and oldest companies, business can and must play a role, we cannot and we must not sit idly by, wait on the sidelines or ignore the heavy lifting that we ask others to do on our behalf. So this is how things will work today. Firstly I will be inviting Ms Amos to speak with you about her work and role. Then I will introduce Catherine Hunter, Head of Corporate Citizenship at KPMG, and Nareen Young, CEO of the Diversity Council of Australia who will be in Conversation with Valerie and who I know have a some really interesting questions to throw her way. Following that we will have some time to take some questions from the floor, Tony Watson from the Barangaroo Delivery Authority will provide the vote of thanks and we can then all have a cup of tea and meet each other! Without Further ado, I would like to introduce our very special guest today, Baroness Valerie Amos. On 6 September 2010, Valerie Amos of the United Kingdom took up the post of Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, to which she was appointed by United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on 9 July 2010. Ms. Amos brings extensive knowledge and experience to the post. She has demonstrated her leadership skills, ability to forge consensus, deliver results and work with diverse stakeholders in a range of roles. She was most recently the United Kingdom’s High Commissioner to Australia.

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www.ungobalcompact.org.au

Level 5, 104 Bathurst Street, Sydney NSW 2000 I +61 2 9016 4278

PO BOX 21460, World Square, Sydney NSW 2002 I

She has campaigned on issues of human rights, social justice and equality, and spent the last decade in various high-level government positions, including as Cabinet minister with responsibility for international development. From 2007 to 2009, Ms. Amos was Chair of the Royal African Society and a Fulbright Commissioner. Between 2003 and 2007, she served as Leader of the House of Lords and Secretary of State for International Development. In the latter role, she was called upon to participate in discussions and negotiations to tackle conflict and post-conflict situations in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Sudan, Zimbabwe, Sierra Leone, Liberia and other parts of the world. From 2001 to 2003, she served as Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Foreign & Commonwealth Office, with responsibility for Africa, the Caribbean, Consular Affairs, the Commonwealth and Britain’s overseas territories. Between 1998-2001, Ms. Amos was a Baroness-in-Waiting and Government Whip in the House of Lords, as well as a Spokesperson on International Development, Women's Issues and Social Security. She was appointed to the House of Lords in 1997. Please everyone let’s give a warm Sydney welcome to Baroness Valerie Amos.