Posts falsely claim Australian foreign minister approved aid to Palestinian Authority

Australia has not provided aid to the Palestinian Authority, despite claims circulating online that Foreign Minister Penny Wong approved $20 million to support the Ramallah-based body for violent purposes. Instead, Australia has long provided funding to the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, which helps vulnerable Palestinians.

An image of Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong overlaid with text accusing her of approving "$20 million in aid to the Palestinian Authority for the killing of Jews" was shared in a Facebook post from April 20, 2025.

"Yes folks, she supported the Palestinian Authority 'pay to slay' program with YOUR money," reads the post, which has more than 980 shares.

The term "pay to slay" -- sometimes dubbed "pay for slay" -- is used to a criticise a longstanding financial aid system under the Ramallah-based Palestinian Authority, whose constitution mandates support for families of those killed, wounded, or imprisoned by Israel (archived link).

The programme has faced funding setbacks over the years due to concerns from critics in the Israeli and US governments, who argue that it incites and rewards violence by providing benefits to former Palestinian prisoners jailed on "terrorism" charges as defined by Israel.

Wong is a prominent figure in the ruling Labor Party, which holds a narrow lead over its conservative opposition ahead of the tightly contested May 3 election (archived link).

Similar posts circulated across social media, triggering strong reactions from users who believed the foreign minister had approved such aid.

"Pure evil," one user said.

Another commented: "She needs to be expelled from Australia immediately."

As in much of the world, the war in Gaza has sparked protests from both supporters of Israel and Palestinians in cities across Australia, with the Albanese government facing criticism from both sides (archived links here and here).

Funding to UN agency for Palestinian refugees

But the claim about Wong has no basis in fact.

In 2018, Australia's then-conservative government halted aid it had been indirectly providing to the Palestinian Authority through the World Bank's trust fund for Palestinian recovery and development, citing concerns the funds could be used to support individuals convicted of political violence (archived link).

While she expressed confidence that previous Australian funding to the Palestinian Authority had been used as intended, then-foreign minister Julie Bishop said she was concerned there was an "opportunity for it to use its own budget to activities Australia would never support".

Canberra then allocated the money to the United Nations' Humanitarian Fund for the Palestinian Territories, which provides vulnerable Palestinians, including those in Gaza, with access to health care, food, water, improved sanitation and shelter (archived link).

Records show that under the Labor-led government of Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, this has remained unchanged (archived link).

Australia has continued to funnel aid for Palestinians through UN agencies, including core funding of 20 million Australian dollars ($12.86 million) to the UN agency for Palestinian refugees or UNRWA (archived link).

In January 2024, Wong paused funding to UNRWA following allegations that some of its staff were involved in the October 7 attacks on Israel (archived link).

The funding resumed two months later in March after a review by the country's national security committee, which Wong said concluded that "UNRWA is not a terrorist organisation" (archived link).

AFP has fact-checked other misinformation related to the Australian election here, here and here.