Australian taxpayers’ money shouldn’t go to those ‘undertaking terrorist attacks’

Shadow Foreign Affairs Minister Simon Birmingham says Australian taxpayers’ money should not be “filtering through an organisation” where it could be going to those “promoting extremism and undertaking terrorist attacks”. Australia paused funding for the United Nations Relief and Work Agency for Palestine Refugees last week after the organisation said several employees were allegedly involved in the Hamas terrorist attacks on October 7. “Concerns about UNWRA have existed for quite some time; indeed, they’ve been expressed prior to the October 7 attacks in relation to whether UNWRA employees have promoted extremist ideologies that have fostered the type of environment that saw Hamas rise,” Mr Birmingham told Sky News Australia. “Concerns were raised with the Albanese government late last year, even as they were increasing funding to UNWRA about whether employees had been directly involved in the October 7 terrorist attacks. “There is no denying there is huge human suffering and need for innocent civilians to get humanitarian assistance and support in Gaza, but not a dollar of Australian taxpayers' money should be filtering through an organisation where it could … be landing in the hands of those who are promoting extremism and undertaking terrorist attacks.”