David Coleman (Banks, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

This is a very important matter and I appreciate the opportunity to contribute to the debate. We have all seen in recent weeks the situation with Ebola in West Africa. The images of the virus that we have seen on our TV screens and elsewhere are heart-rending. The spread of the virus is obviously an issue of the greatest concern. This is an issue that should be beyond politics in this place. It is a humanitarian question and one that we should think of very much in that way. Nobody has a monopoly on caring. We are all very concerned about the spread of Ebola, and certainly the government is very concerned and has acted strongly in this area.

The first area where the government has made a very substantial response is through financial and humanitarian assistance. Indeed, it has contributed some $18 million towards the fight against Ebola, $10 million to the UN Ebola Response Multi-Partner Trust Fund. This was a very large donation to that fund and, in fact, it was the largest of any nation. So much so that the UN Special Envoy on Ebola, Dr David Nabarro, noted that it was exactly the kind of quick and effective response that the UN is asking of member states. We have also contributed $3½ million to the World Health Organization's regional response; $2½ million to the Humanitarian Partnership Agreement to address in a practical way the virus in Africa; and $2 million towards supporting front-line services in Sierra Leone, principally through the agency of the UK. So we have made a very substantial response—swift, without bureaucracy, and getting money to the source where it is most required.

We turn then to the specific medical actions that the government is taking, through the Department of Health and others. Of course, we must ensure that we are well prepared here in Australia for any instance of the Ebola virus. The Secretary of the Department of Health, Martin Bowles, in testifying before a Senate committee last week, said:

From a domestic perspective, the country is well prepared to deal with Ebola. I want to make that very, very clear. States and territories have been training their staff and running exercises in the designated hospitals for a while now.

The Chief Medical Officer is talking regularly across the states, and the general level of preparedness in Australia is high. We are also ready to deploy teams into our region. There are some 20 people, based at the National Critical Care and Trauma Response Centre in Darwin, who are trained to deal with the virus and who are ready to be deployed into our region to provide some of the best medical care in the world, as our people always do, should that be required.

We have the question of West Africa, and it is absolutely incumbent upon the government to ensure the safety of Australian health workers. There is no greater responsibility on the government than that. West Africa is 30 hours from Australia. There are not procedures in place to enable those workers to be safely evacuated with surety, and, understandably, the government is not going to rush into that sort of situation. We cannot forget that we have seen health workers infected. We need to be cautious and ensure their safety whilst working across a suite of areas to help to address the Ebola virus.

See this speech in context