Why worthwhile Australian entities like YWAM deserve greater government assistance

Within 12 months hundreds of babies had been born on the ship from communities which had experienced almost no engagement with health services ever.

Within a few years there were up to three ships operating along the coast from Fly River right around to Morobe and Madang.

The number of village people receiving medical, dental and optical procedures got as high as 20,000 in some years. It's currently between 10,000 and 15,000 annually.

YWAM has now added a dental trailer to its fleet allowing inland communities to be serviced as well as coastal communities. That number is expected to grow to three, focussed on Port Moresby.

YWAM hopes two add two smaller vessels next year enabling services to be provided to River communities across PNG.

In addition, around 1 million people have participated in health and community education programs run by YWAM.

The YWAM team now includes over 100 Papua New Guineans in its workforce.

Now how much assistance does this work from an Australian entity receive from the federal government which dishes out $600 million a year in aid?

I would have thought $10 million would be justified, given the number of people in remote communities who have received vital medical assistance from YWAM teams.

This year, DFAT gave YWAM just $700,000, and given after numerous reports, studies and so on.

There are clearly people in DFAT who don't want to give YWAM any support, possibly because it receives some support from overseas Christian churches.

But it is also generously supported by businesses in Townsville and elsewhere in Australia.