Ms Julie Bishop (Curtin, Liberal Party, Minister for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

It also includes: arranging ground transport of the patient from their location to an airport; securing the use of an appropriate aircraft, noting that there are very few available with the capacity to transport a patient with active Ebola; negotiating access to a treatment facility in a country closer to west Africa than Australia because flying time must be kept to a minimum; obtaining overflight and technical stop clearances from other countries along every step of the air route. This is why the Prime Minister has set up an interdepartmental committee comprising representatives from the Department of Health, the Department of Defence and the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade—because every one of these steps would have to be achieved, otherwise there is no evacuation. The Australian government will not put at risk Australian health workers without a credible evacuation plan.

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