Lisa Singh (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary to the Shadow Attorney General) Share this | Hansard source

I also rise to contribute to this urgency motion regarding the tragedy occurring in West Africa with the outbreak of Ebola. It is indeed with a sense of urgency that we contribute to this debate, because attention in West Africa is urgently needed. Personnel is needed in West Africa. Yet what we have had, unfortunately, from the Abbott government is some kind of stagnation when it comes to actually doing something and joining with our international partners—the UK, the US and other Western democracies—to offer that assistance.

Despite that, for weeks now Labor has been pressing the Abbott government to do more to fight the Ebola crisis and in doing so our shadow foreign affairs minister, Tanya Plibersek, and our shadow health minister, Catherine King, wrote to the Abbott government requesting that immediate arrangements be made, specifically highlighting the need to deploy Australian medical assistance teams—AUSMAT or similar—to West Africa and support other specialist Australian personnel who are willing and able to prevent the spread of Ebola. But on top of Labor's insistence in urging the government to act, there have been myriad specialists and organisations in the medical field that have been doing likewise, including the nation's Chief Medical Officer, Professor Chris Baggoley, who threw his support behind the need to send Australian medical teams to West Africa. Again, that has fallen on deaf ears, with no action at all.

I noticed that Senator Back raised the fact that there has been an $18 million contribution provided by the Australian government. Of course the opposition supports providing that money for relief efforts, but money alone is not enough to resolve this terrible crisis occurring in West Africa. Organisations on the front line, like Medecins Sans Frontieres, have made that very clear and have said that they now are in desperate need of personnel rather than donations. Yet that is falling on deaf ears here with the Abbott government. In the meantime, we know that another day passes when there are more people becoming infected; another day passes when more people are dying. This is a terrible disease. We know it is not the only disease; we know there are people dying of malaria and other diseases in parts of the world. And we have appropriate mechanisms that we have contributed to try to help that as well. But this is a crisis that has been brought about and that can be resolved in some way if we as a nation join with the US and the UK and ensure that we do something to support preventing its spreading any further.

What we know so far is that the British are reportedly sending 750 people to help in Sierra Leone. The US has dispatched 3,000 people to Sierra Leone, and there have also been personnel sent from South Africa, China and Cuba. Yet the Abbott government is still ignoring the advice to assist in putting people on the ground. That is despite calls by the UN Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon; the UN Security Council—their own resolution on the matter—Medecins Sans Frontieres, as I said; the International Crisis Group; the President of Sierra Leone; Oxfam; the Australian Medical Association; and the Public Health Association of Australia. And the list goes on—the amount of calling on this government to act.

We know that going to help fight Ebola in West Africa would not be without risk, which is why it is important that safety protocols are put in place to support Australian personnel who volunteer to serve. Of course the safety of those personnel must be paramount. But it should not be beyond the wit of this Australian government to negotiate with our international partner countries to ensure that those appropriate stand-by evacuation and treatment arrangements and the like are provided for any Australian personnel. It is a deep concern that this is not happening so far with the Abbott government. In fact, it is simply unacceptable that the Abbott government has failed to make such arrangements and to act. In the meantime, we know that many Australian workers are ready, willing and able to assist. There is simply no time to lose.

As I understand, there are some who have gone. But we need this Abbott government to be sending, along with the $18 million committed so far, personnel, just like the UK and just like the US have done, and to be ensuring that we are doing our part to keep this terrible disease under control. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention predict that if the international community does not do more then the number of Ebola cases could reach 1.4 million by early 2015. That in itself I think shows the reason our government should be doing more. We cannot afford to wait until Ebola reaches our region or our own country—Australia itself—before it becomes part of the global effort to control this virus.

This week, as I said, we have heard wildly different accounts about the Abbott government's preparedness to respond to the Ebola crisis in West Africa. We have heard about it from the Chief Medical Officer himself, the head of the health department, the Defence Force, the foreign affairs department and the immigration minister. At an estimates hearing, the foreign affairs department revealed that it was actually back in September—we are almost into November—that the UK and US governments made specific requests to Australia to send personnel to help fight the Ebola crisis in West Africa. I think it was Senator Di Natale that raised the point that, when our efforts in security issues are required and military issues in other parts the world, we are fairly quick to respond. When it is necessary, we do so. Why can't we respond to this terrible Ebola crisis that is going on in West Africa?

As I said in the adjournment debate last night, in my home state of Tasmania and across the country, the Sierra Leone community have set up the Salone Ebola Action Group, who themselves have been fundraising. In my home state, they fundraised $7,000 and got a lot of donations to provide medical equipment—a whole container left Sydney a couple weeks ago—to send to Sierra Leone, at the request of the Sierra Leone government and because some of those Sierra Leone community members in my home state have lost members of their own family and wanted to do something. So we have individual members of the Australian community acting. We have civil society acting. We have the medical fraternity making it very clear that there needs to be more action. Yet, when all of that is put forward to the Abbott government we have, unfortunately, this kind of stagnation where no decision has been made. Now is the time—that is what this urgency motion is about.

Now is the time for the Abbott government to actually get on board. They have had the request from the UK and US governments. They have had the request from the international community. They have had the request from the AMA and from the other civil society bodies here in Australia and elsewhere. There is absolutely no reason why the Abbott government should not be acting today on this issue. As I said, it should not be beyond the wit of the government to negotiate with our international partner countries on the issue of safety of our Australian personnel.

We know that, so far, Ebola has killed more than 4,000 people. It has infected around 10,000 people in West Africa. If we do not do more, some predictions suggest the number of Ebola cases could reach 1.4 million. This is no longer just a humanitarian issue in West Africa; it poses a direct threat on the rest of the world and we need to act. (Time expired)