Fact check: Health Minister misleading on Red Cross Ebola funding

October 22, 2014

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Fact check: Health Minister Peter Dutton misleading on Red Cross Ebola funding

Australian humanitarian agencies have called on the Federal Government to “immediately increase support” to contain the Ebola crisis in West Africa.

Health Minister Peter Dutton argues the Government is doing as much as possible. He’s repeatedly said the Government has provided $18 million to non-government organisations like the Red Cross to support their Ebola response.

“There’s $18 million… that we’ve provided to try and provide help to services like the Red Cross that are delivering services, delivering support on the ground in Africa,” Mr Dutton told John Laws on 2SM on October 8.

On October 16 he told Sydney radio station 2UE: “We’ve provided that financial support not only to the WHO but also to non-government organisations like the Red Cross that do have a presence on the ground.”

And on October 17, he told ABC NewsRadio that “We’ve never discouraged our people volunteering to go to the region. We’ve provided financial support, in fact, to NGOs like the Red Cross, who have got a presence with health workers in West Africa, so we’re very appreciative of those people that put their own lives on the line.”

Fact Check investigates which aid organisations are receiving Federal Government funding to fight the Ebola crisis.

No Red Cross funding

The Australian Red Cross has told Fact Check it has never received any money from the Federal Government specifically earmarked for its Ebola operations and relief effort in West Africa.

The Red Cross said it had spoken, along with other aid organisations, to the Department of Health about the provision of funding for Ebola.

“Australian Red Cross has received no specific funding from the Government either to our Ebola Appeal or to our current work in West Africa,” Australian Red Cross spokeswoman Vivian Schenker said in an email.

“We have used just over $12,000 from money provided under our latest Partnership Agreement with DFAT [the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade] to send a doctor to the Ebola-affected area several months ago and may use this same funding to send additional aid workers in the future”.

Ms Schenker confirmed the Federal Government provides funding to the Australian Red Cross for other specific programs in Australia and overseas.

The Federal Government also provides funds to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), which operates solely in conflict zones. West Africa is not currently considered a conflict zone.

About 68 per cent, or $304.4 million, of the Australian organisation’s annual funding for its humanitarian services came from federal, state and territory government grants, according to its most recent 2012-13 annual report.

Of that, $2.8 million is allocated to Australian disaster and emergency services. The bulk of the funding – $207.3 million – goes to “migration support”.

Where is the money going?

On October 2, Foreign Affairs Minister Julie Bishop released a statement announcing that Australia would increase its initial funding response from $8 million to $18 million.

“Australia shares the international community’s deep concerns over the Ebola outbreak, and is responding to the United Nations’ call for immediate funds through a newly established UN Ebola Response Multi-Partner Trust Fund,” the statement said.

DFAT confirmed in an email to Fact Check the $18 million is broken down as follows:

$2.5 million to support the provision of frontline services under the Humanitarian Partnership Agreement with Australian NGOs;
$10 million to the UN Ebola Response Multi-Partner Trust Fund (MPTF);
$3.5 million to the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) consolidated regional response;
and $2 million to support the UK’s delivery of frontline medical services in Sierra Leone.

The Humanitarian Partnership Agreement does not include the Australian Red Cross.

Mr Dutton’s office would not comment to Fact Check on why he had consistently told media additional funding was going to aid organisations like the Red Cross.

His office would not confirm whether the Health Department had been discussing the Ebola crisis and required funding with aid organisations.

His office referred Fact Check to DFAT, which it said was in charge of funding.

Money versus Government personnel

The United Nations has warned that unless international governments coordinate a global response to the crisis by mid-December, health workers may not be able to arrest its spread.

The Abbott Government has come under attack from the Opposition and various aid organisations, which say it’s not doing enough to help combat the spread of Ebola in West Africa.

The Government says it will not mobilise health or military personnel until it receives an “ironclad guarantee” that any Australians infected in West Africa can be treated on the ground at an international facility, or evacuated to an allied country for medical treatment.

The Opposition spokeswoman for foreign affairs, Tanya Plibersek, has been pressuring the Government to support “skilled, willing Australian personnel”, including government volunteer organisations such as the Australian Medical Assistance Team, to work in West Africa.

“We have been happy that the Government sent some money,” she told ABC Radio on October 17. “There’s nothing wrong with sending money, it’s just that….we have got people who are ready and willing to go and we are not assisting them.”

Mr Dutton countered her claims, saying Opposition Leader Bill Shorten needed to “rein [her] in”. He said Ms Plibersek’s proposal that it was not beyond the Government’s capability to arrange for Australian volunteers to go to West Africa was “reckless and irresponsible”.

He told told ABC Lateline that the Government had “for a number of weeks” been looking at what options were available to it, but refused to confirm if the Government had discussed sending in medical teams of its own.

“If we can provide support – we’ve done that financially now with $18 million on top of the $40 million that we provide to the WHO, so that we can provide support in-country to the NGOs, Red Cross and the like who have got health workers on the ground,” he said.

Humanitarian Partnership Agreement

In June 2011, the Federal Government’s Humanitarian Partnership Agreement (HPA) came into effect. Using a competitive tender process, six non-governmental aid organisations won the right to become signatories to the HPA. They are CARE, Caritas, Oxfam, Plan International, Save the Children and World Vision.

CARE manager of the Humanitarian and Emergency Response Unit, Adam Poulter, tells Fact Check the Federal Government activated its $2.5 million Ebola specific grant in early October. The six agencies were asked to pitch proposals for their response in West Africa. Four were successful – Caritas, Plan International, Save the Children and World Vision.

Mr Poulter says CARE Australia’s Ebola specific funding has come from the community appeal, which has so far raised about $80,000. Globally CARE is seeking about $12 million in funds, which it estimates will enable it to provide preventative care to about 2.9 million people in West Africa over about 18 months, he said.

Funding for non-HPA NGOs can be requested from the Federal Government. Mr Poulter says the usual process is using the Australian Council for International Development (ACFID) – the peak council for Australian not-for-profit aid and development organisations – to liaise with the government on behalf of members.

Like CARE, the Australian Red Cross is a member of the ACFID.

The Australian Red Cross is not a signatory to the HPA because it already had a longstanding partnership agreement with the government at the time the HPA was signed, it told Fact Check.

The verdict

The Australian Red Cross has not received specific funding from the Federal Government to support its Ebola program in West Africa.

The Federal Government has provided $2.5 million to four Australian NGOs: Caritas, Plan International, Save the Children and World Vision.

Mr Dutton has repeatedly said the Government is providing $18 million to organisations like the Red Cross to fight Ebola.

Mr Dutton’s claim is misleading.