PM Transcripts

PRIME MINISTER
FOR MEDIA 4 FEBRUARY 1986
The Prime Minister today officially handed over to the
International Committee of the Red Cross the first of the
Hercules aircraft the Government has offered to provide for the
airlift of food supplies to famine areas in Africa.
The International Committee of the Red Cross will use the
aircraft for its relief operations in Africa for a 12 month
period commencing 1 March 1986.
The Hercules C130A was handed over at Richmond RAAF Base, near
Sydney, to the Assistant Secretary-General of the Australian Red
Cross Society, Mr Alan McLean, representing the International
Committee of the Red Cross.
The ICRC has demonstrated a capacity for effective distribution
of humanitarian aid in Ethiopia and elsewhere in Africa.
The aircraft is scheduled to leave Richmond tomorrow for
Bordeaux, France, for further mechanical refurbishment before it
commences operations in Ethiopia in March.
The Government offered to provide two C130A aircraft for famine
relief work in Africa following a request by Bob Geldof, of Live
Aid, and to meet the costs of making the aircraft flightworthy
and ferrying them to Africa. This was initially estimated to cost
between $ 1.1 million and $ 1.7 million.