Aid & development, explained.
Rohingya man Muhammad Samin seen last year having sought refuge in Indonesia (Sutanta Aditya/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
More than a million people in disease ridden camps in our region should be a national concern.
Subscribe to The Informer for monthly expert analysis, and to Events for advance notice of visiting world leaders and distinguished guests.
You may unsubscribe from Lowy Institute newsletters at any time. For information on our privacy practices and how to unsubscribe, see our Privacy Policy.
Beyond politics: Australia’s role in solving the Rohingya crisisBeyond politics: Australia’s role in solving the Rohingya crisis
Over recent years, the Australian government has made concrete policy efforts aimed at supporting the Rohingya people in their homelands in Myanmar, in refugee camps in Bangladesh, and elsewhere in the region. And rightly so – this is the largest humanitarian crisis in our region.
Efforts must now shift toward a non-partisan policy that commits the Australian government, regardless of the outcome in the upcoming election, to addressing Rohingya statelessness. Otherwise the progress made so far will be put at risk.
Since 2022, Australia has taken significant steps – pledging $235 million, prioritising the crisis in its Humanitarian Policy, and expanding diplomatic resettlement pathways. These actions indicate a foreign policy that acknowledges reality. More than one million Rohingya people remain dependent on aid, not only requiring immediate life-saving support but also presenting long-term challenges to security, migration, and a regional health crisis. The refugee camps in Cox Bazaar have already endured the largest scabies outbreak ever, severe water shortages, making hygiene nearly impossible, and rising malnutrition, particularly among children.
The direct consequences of statelessness are no longer just a human rights issue – they have evolved into a full-scale public health emergency.
We should not expect political leaders to solve everything, but we can expect them to set the right vision.
The stakes have never been higher. Just last year, MSF reported a hepatitis C outbreak in the camps. Our study indicated that nearly 20% of Rohingya refugees tested in the Cox’s Bazar camps in Bangladesh had an active hepatitis C infection. We are talking about tens of thousands of Rohingya people, and it will have multi-generational impacts.
A blood-borne virus, hepatitis C can remain dormant for years. If untreated, it can attack the liver, leading to serious or even fatal complications, such as cirrhosis or liver cancer, alongside an increased risk of diabetes, depression, and chronic fatigue.
Every day, our medical teams are forced to turn patients away because the scale of need exceeds MSF’s capacity. There are barely any affordable alternative treatment options outside our clinics. Many will die from a disease that is entirely treatable with an effective, well-tolerated, and patient-friendly cure.
Kutupalong refugee camp in Ukhia. Bangladesh (Munir Uz Zaman/AFP via Getty Images)
For Australia, the key challenges to supporting the Rohingya are complicated by the ongoing civil conflict in Myanmar and by Australian party politics and public perceptions that are sceptical of increasing aid or accepting greater numbers of humanitarian refugees.
The next government must invest in cultivating a fundamental shift in public attitude towards refugees and humanitarian aid. A key step toward genuine leadership would be restoring bipartisan commitment to dedicating at least one per cent of the federal budget to foreign aid.
This spirit of cross-party consensus was evident in the 1970s when both Labor and the Coalition supported similar aid targets, and again in the 1990s, when both major parties aligned on increasing humanitarian commitments. A unified approach would remove humanitarian aid from political bargaining and ensure Australia upholds its regional responsibilities.
Australia should also leverage its regional influence to push for durable solutions to the Rohingya crisis. This means hosting high-level dialogue with regional actors (India, ASEAN, Bangladesh, Myanmar’s neighbours) to drive policy solutions, including advocating for increased humanitarian resettlement pathways for Rohingya refugees. It also involves commissioning white papers on diplomacy and human rights-based migration strategies.
This vision might be seen as either naïve or unachievable in the short term, and that may not be wrong. The current party politics of fear mongering and division that dominate the federal parliamentary discourse also frames immigration and refugees as security threats rather than humanitarian priorities. The Coalition has already pledged to reduce Australia’s refugee intake from 20,000 to 13,750. Meanwhile, Labor has yet to fulfill its pledge to raise the intake to 27,000, largely due to concerns over political backlash. Both major parties still lock up refugees arriving by boats indefinitely in offshore detention facilities in Nauru and Christmas Island.
The Australian government cannot solve the Rohingya crisis alone – but it can lead. Through aid, immigration, and diplomacy, it must push for lasting solutions.
We should not expect political leaders to solve everything, but we can expect them to set the right vision. A vision that we are connected by a shared vision of humanity. If a million Rohingya refugees are living in makeshift tarpaulin tents in our region, it should matter to us – even if they are not Australian citizens. If a Rohingya mother cannot afford medical treatment, that makes us poorer – even if she is not our own relative.
This is the unified leadership and culture that will help address some of the most pressing humanitarian crises of our time. As Australians prepare to go to the polls, we hope that political parties and candidates recognise this and rise above fear mongering tactics. Supporting the most vulnerable in society must transcend party politics. It's part of who we are as Australians.
About the author
Arunn Jegan
Arunn Jegan has been the Head of Mission for Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders (MSF) in Bangladesh.
The most-pressing world events explained by Lowy Institute experts and global contributors, in your inbox, every Thursday.
You may unsubscribe from The Interpreter at any time. For information on our privacy practices and how to unsubscribe, see our Privacy Policy.
