Coalition spokesman for foreign affairs Simon Birmingham has slammed the government’s decision to.
Speaking from Adelaide,Birmingham said the(UNRWA) that employees had participated in the October 7 attacks were longstanding concerns.
“The Coalition does not support the decision of the Albanese government to reinstate funding at this time ahead of the conclusion of the review into UNRWA’s staff involvement in the terrorist activities of October 7,” he said.
“We welcome the fact that the Albanese government has today - separate from the reinstatement of UNRWA funding - announced additional funding and additional cooperation by other means to get more assistance to people in Gaza.
“That’s the type of pathway that should be being pursued and,indeed,UNRWA funding should and could have been redirected to undertake more of those alternative activities where we can have greater confidence that the organisations are operating with impartiality.”
Birmingham said there has been no clarity on the assurances made by Foreign Minister Penny Wong.
“Are the assurances any different to the assurances that were being given prior to October 7,when previous concerns were raised? If they’re not,what’s the point of them? Are there extra steps in place to verify those assurances as a result of them being given?” he said.
“If there’s no extra verification,if there’s no real strong oversight,then what’s the point of them? And the risk is that we’ll see a repeat in terms of the types of mistakes made in the past.”