Confirmation that Australian health workers who help Ebola victims in west Africa will have access to a US field hospital means the government has run out of excuses to act, Labor says.
Deputy opposition leader Tanya Plibersek met with senior US government officials this week to discuss the global response to the outbreak, which has killed more than 5000 people.
She's been told the field hospital, to be based in Liberia, will be available to health workers of any nationality.
"I haven't been given a day, but within days," Ms Plibersek told ABC Radio on Friday when asked when it would be operational.
The government has been reluctant to send health workers to Ebola-affected areas, arguing there is no way to get them home safely if they catch the virus.
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Labor health spokeswoman Catherine King says the US field hospital means the government can now act.
"The government is out of excuses," she told reporters in Canberra.
"The window to actually shut this pandemic down is fast closing."
Ms King said division within cabinet, especially between Immigration Minister Scott Morrison, Foreign Minister Julie Bishop and Health Minister Peter Dutton, was the reason behind the government's inaction.
Yet there was public support for the move.
A Morgan Poll this week showed 70 per cent of Australians supported sending health workers to west Africa - where the virus has taken hold in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea.
The poll comes one week after a Senate committee heard the US and UK had asked Australia to send over health personnel.
