Kelly O'Dwyer (Higgins, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

There is no question that the Australian government shares the international community's concerns about the outbreak of Ebola in West Africa. We further recognise and laud the courage and selflessness of our first-line responders from non-government organisations such as Medecins Sans Frontieres and the Red Cross. Indeed, it is hard to imagine a greater personal commitment.

The Australian government takes the outbreak of Ebola and its impact on the people of West Africa extremely seriously. That is why Australia responded so quickly when asked by the UN to make a financial contribution as a matter of urgency. Indeed, our quick response with $10 million immediately made available was lauded by the UN as exemplary. In total, we have already committed $18 million in response to the Ebola crisis. This consists of a figure of $8 million to front-line services and the aforementioned $10 million to the UN Ebola Response Multi-Partner Trust Fund. This is in addition to the $40 million that the Australian government has already contributed to the World Health Organization.

The government, though, is not stopping there. We are examining other ways to contribute, including investigation and actions to equip military aircraft for medical evacuations. However, regrettably, we cannot at this time facilitate the delivery of specialised personnel as we do not have the means to evacuate our citizens. We cannot fly the distances to execute an extraction of Australian personnel, and as yet we have been unable to secure guarantees that our personnel would be extracted and treated by others in the event of becoming infected.

The responsibility of a government is first and foremost to protect its citizens. This means that we need a real and credible evacuation plan in place before our doctors and nurses are sent overseas by our government to help with the crisis. This is the only responsible decision. Those opposite would have us send our own citizens into West Africa into real danger, without the logistical backups that those personnel should responsibly insist upon.

Let us be clear: the flight from West Africa to Australia is so long that it actually would put the Ebola victim at serious risk and it is extremely difficult to secure a stopover when you are carrying an infectious patient. This makes a flight back to Australia very unsafe and simply unfeasible. In addition to this barrier, there are in existence only a very small number of aircraft that are actually equipped to support a patient with Ebola and we do not as yet have access to such extraction capabilities.

We, as a government, are still working hard on negotiating with other countries for them to fly Australian citizens to their respective countries for treatment or to be able to use their treatment services on the ground. We are talking with both Great Britain and the United States. We have also set up a committee with representatives from the Department of Health, Defence and DFAT to examine feasible possibilities for assistance. So far, though, we have been unable to secure agreement. We are, though, ready and capable of acting within our region should the crisis come to our region.

There are 20 people who are trained and ready for deployment from the National Critical Care and Trauma Response Centre in Darwin—four doctors and 16 nurses ready and able to be deployed. This is critical for our region and critical for our preparedness. We are also, of course, making sure that we have the appropriate arrangements in place when people come into Australia to make sure that they are appropriately quarantined if they have been exposed to this virus. So pragmatically and responsibly, Australia must now act in concert with established organisations such as the Red Cross and Medecins Sans Frontieres. There are currently 20 to 30 of our own citizens on the ground with such organisations and we commend their efforts and applaud their courage.

Let me reiterate: Australian health workers cannot be put at risk without a credible treatment and evacuation action plan. Military and health advisers have both said that the best form of assistance Australia can give at this point is financial. So we have done so. We agree Ebola is an international safety and security risk. However, we cannot and we will not, as this motion might encourage us, send Australians into harm's way without an appropriate safety net. We will always take the right choices in the best interests of our nation and our nation's citizens. We will be responsible in those choices. We will not politicise this issue as those opposite have tried to do. This issue is too important to score political points and I urge those opposite to be responsible, given the briefings they have received.

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