The Australian government won't send health workers to west Africa to help battle the Ebola outbreak because there's no way to get them home safely if they catch the disease.
Médecins Sans Frontières and the World Health Organisation have asked for more Australian support to contain the disease which has killed at least 3000 people since December.
The government has provided an additional $8 million to organisations on the ground, on top of $40 million already given this year.
Foreign Minister Julie Bishop said WHO had not requested ground health workers and ruled out sending any due to safety concerns.
She said the Australian Defence Force and health department advised it was not possible to safely evacuate infected health workers back to Australia.
"The Australian government is not about to put at risk Australian health workers in the absence of credible evacuation plans that could bring our people back to Australia," she told reporters in Melbourne.
But opposition health spokeswoman Catherine King said Australia should send a team of health workers.
"It should not be beyond the wit of the Australian government to strike a deal," she told ABC Radio.
"Just because it's not right on our border doesn't mean we shouldn't be concerned about something of this magnitude."
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