Marise Payne (NSW, Liberal Party, Minister for Defence) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I have a small amount of information to add to my response to Senator Hanson from question time yesterday. In response to her primary question, I am advised that Australian support provided in funding for the people of Palestine has strict controls to ensure the funding is not used to support terrorism, terrorists or their families. I'm advised that the view of the government is that withdrawal of funding to the Palestinian people would risk exacerbating social, economic and humanitarian distress and potentially drive more people into the ranks of extremists.

In relation to her second question, I note that the government is strongly opposed to educational material supporting violence and extremism. Australian contributions to UNRWA, in part, support the use of textbooks assessed through the US funded curriculum review process within UNRWA. It is imperative that UNRWA maintain neutrality in all of its operations, and the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade has reinforced this directly with UNRWA as recently as November of last year. In relation to Senator Hanson's second supplementary question—as I advised yesterday, the government and the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade are regularly briefed by a range of organisations, including think tanks.