Pressure is growing on the Federal Government to do more to help combat the rapidly spreading Ebola virus.
Foreign Affairs Minister Julie Bishop said Australia had already made a significant contribution to fighting Ebola and was not ruling out boosting the amount the Government is spending.
“We are monitoring the situation very closely, the World Health Organisation (WHO) has not asked us for on-the-ground health workers in West Africa,” she said.
“We have provided $8 million to frontline services in addition to the $40 million we have provided this year to the WHO.”
Medecins sans Frontieres, the Public Health Association, the Healthcare and Hospitals Association and the Australian Medical Association are all lobbying hard for Australia to dramatically increase its contribution.
The organisations have said Australia should join the United States in sending in troops to help manage the logistics as well as sending health experts and volunteers.
But Ms Bishop said the Government had been advised by the Defence and the Health departments that it cannot bring people back to Australia if they go to help and contract the disease.
“So we will not be putting Australian health workers in a risky situation in the absence of evacuation plans and an appropriate level of medical care and we cannot currently supply that,” she said.
Ms Bishop has indicated there are talks with countries like the UK and the US who would use their military to evacuate people.
Labor says Australia can do more to stop Ebola crisis
Labor’s health spokeswoman Catherine King said the Government must strike a deal.
“It should not be beyond the wit of the Australian Government to negotiate. The US has medical teams there the UK has medical teams there to negotiate an agreement with either of those countries,” Ms King said.
Ms King argues the Ebola threat is so great that the Government should send the sort of help it has given to countries in crisis in Asia Pacific region.
“For example, in the Philippines there are teams of doctors, of nurses, of logistics personnel who actually have gone over from Australia in times of crisis,” she said.
“We’ve had those before in the past and I don’t seen any reason why the Australian Government can’t try and mobilise those again.
“Just because it’s not right on our border doesn’t mean we shouldn’t be concerned about something of this magnitude.”
Ms Bishop said Health Minister Peter Dutton has been in talks with the WHO in recent days and is not ruling out increasing the Government’s financial contribution.
But Ms King said the Government needs to do more than just send money.
“Seventy per cent of the people who are dying in West Africa are women because they are predominantly the care givers,” she said.
“I don’t think we can turn our backs on this and I think money clearly is not enough.
“I think Medecins Sans Frontieres, the Australian Medical Association, Public Health Association are all saying the same and the international community is crying out for help.”