Tanya Plibersek (Sydney, Australian Labor Party, Deputy Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Acting Prime Minister. What consular support arrangements does the government have in place for Australians currently volunteering in Ebola affected West Africa? And what progress has the government made to secure their evacuation to suitable medical facilities should it be required?

Warren Truss (Wide Bay, National Party, Leader of the Nationals) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The government will be happy to provide advice and a briefing to the shadow minister if she wants particular details on these sorts of matters.

I have already responded earlier in question time to the leader's question about some of the ways in which we are responding to the Ebola outbreak and I have identified that one of the real difficulties confronting Australia in making a decision about how we can be involved in addressing these issues is the difficulty of evacuating somebody who may contract the disease. It is 30 hours flying time. We do not have aircraft in Australia suitable to make that kind of a transfer so we will need to work constructively with other countries.

Minister Bishop has been talking to some of those countries on her current visit about how we might be able to respond and whether there is capacity for some of the facilities that our allies have in that area to be used for an Australian citizen. That work is being undertaken diligently and in recognition of the fact that the government needs to have an appropriate exit strategy for our involvement in the event of there being Australians who contract the disease while attempting to address its impact.

We will continue to look at ways in which we can be constructive in ensuring that there is a strong global response, that the disease is contained and that every possible assistance is given to those who have contracted the illness.