Gillard urges new goals to fight poverty PRIME Minister Julia Gillard has urged world leaders to set new goals to fight global poverty through green jobs, clean energy and a new global oceans' treaty. One of more than 100 world leaders at the United Nations sustainable development conference in Rio de Janeiro, Ms Gillard delivered a seven-minute official address just after 8am (AEST) today. Given that the leaders had "already lowered other important ambitions," it made it all the more important that the summit sign off on a new agreement to put in place "sustainable development goals" (SDGs), the Prime Minister said. Ms Gillard and the Australian delegation have pushed hard for the SDGs to replace the millennium development goals (MDGs), which were put in place to fight global poverty in 2000 and expire in 2015. The Prime Minister during the UN summit was appointed to co-chair a special task force to oversee the final years of the millennium goals and ensure all nations met their commitments. "Everyone here knows that collective action is hard - and that global collective action can be even harder," she said. (But) everyone here also knows that targets work ... (and) set the firmest possible basis for long-term success. Australia's aid budget is set to increase 60 per cent in the next five years, even though the Federal Budget delayed meeting its own MDG by one year. Ms Gillard said Australia was "playing its part" in addressing climate change and creating green jobs by putting in place a price on carbon from July 1 and investing in renewable energy. Australia was also putting a new focus on the health of the oceans and managing the "blue economy" that they underpin, she said. She called for a "strong oceans governance convention" to be put in place and new marine protected areas to be established. We are not here this week just to talk to each other. We're here to decide, to agree - and then to act," the Prime Minister said. The final day of the summit is expected to adopt a 50-page statement which includes a commitment to working on the detail of the new SDGs, which have the endorsement of UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. On the second day of the summit, Ms Gillard addressed a breakfast function where she announced $33 million for action to protect fish stocks and conserve marine ecosystems, working with Asia-Pacific nations. She also addressed a UN women's forum, where she called inequality between men and women a "serious economic blindspot," worth an estimated $47 billion a year. Ms Gillard, Australia's first female prime minister, lamented the fact that only 10 per cent of UN member nations are led by women, including two per cent of Pacific nations.