Australia is set to resume funding to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), the key UN aid agency that supports Palestinian refugees, while also committing millions more in funding for civilians in Gaza.
The funding was suspended in January after Israeli allegations that UNRWA staff members were involved in Hamas’ initial attack on October 7 last year.
In a press conference on March 15, Foreign Minister Penny Wong announced the federal government’s decision to unpause $6 million of emergency funding for UNRWA, and called for the state of Israel to allow aid into Gaza “now”.
Wong also announced that Australia will be supporting airdrops by Jordan and the United Arab Emirates by sending a Royal Australian Air Force C-17A Globemaster aircraft to deliver 140 aerial parachutes for use in future aid drops in Gaza. Alongside this, the government will provide an extra $4 million in funding to UNICEF to provide urgent services for women and children and $2 million to a new UN body that is looking to facilitate more humanitarian aid in Gaza.
The decision comes after Sweden, Canada, and the European Union also resumed funding to UNRWA over the past few weeks. Political pressure had mounted on the Albanese government to resume funding. Multiple independent members of parliament signed an open letter to the government last week, calling on them to give the UNRWA specific directions on what they needed to do to receive Australian funding.
The independent MP Zoe Daniel said: “The world cannot withhold funding and subsequently allow full-scale humanitarian collapse.”
The Greens, who condemned the initial decision to withdraw funding, welcomed the decision.
Senator Mehreen Faruqi said in a statement that she hoped “this is the start of the Labor government breaking away from their unquestioning support of Israel.”
She argued that the funding was “inexcusably cut off” and called on the government to support “an immediate and permanent ceasefire, and an end to the occupation and apartheid.”
The Coalition rejected the government decision with Senator Simon Birmingham telling the ABC that humanitarian aid should only go to “trusted organisations” and resuming funding risked Australian dollars flowing to terrorism.
Birmingham argued that the decision should not have come “ahead of the conclusion of the review” or “ahead of the United States” which as of writing has not resumed funding to the UNRWA.
Before today, the government maintained publicly that they were waiting for the investigation into the alleged involvement in the October 7 attacks to conclude before reassessing the funding. That investigation is expected to conclude in late April.
