The Turnbull government faces a backlash from thousands of Rotarians over accusations it has cut, by more than 50 per cent, funding for global efforts to eradicate polio.
Foreign Minister Julie Bishop last year announced a five-year, $100 million commitment to polio eradication, which then-Prime Minister Tony Abbott reiterated later that day in front of 20,000 Rotarians at the organisation's international convention in Sydney.
While $20 million was delivered to the Global Polio Eradication Initiative in 2014-15, the remaining $80 million was cut to $72 million in May as a result of a $3.7 billion cut to the nation's aid program announced in December.
Last week aid groups were told only half of the remaining $72 million would go to polio eradication efforts, with the remaining $36 million to be directed to the World Bank's routine immunisation work in south-east Asia and the Pacific.
Foreign Minister Julie Bishop said Australia remained "fully committed" to the global polio eradication effort, insisting the move was consistent with her 2014 announcement which stated the $100 million would be spent on routine immunisation as well as polio eradication.
"To eradicate polio globally we need targeted programs in the remaining endemic countries as well as strong routine immunisation systems in all countries, to maintain polio-free status and target other communicable disease outbreaks," Ms Bishop said.
But Rotary's national advocacy advisor on polio eradication, Brian Knowles, said the organisation was "concerned and disappointed" by the decision, which he said breached the commitment made by Mr Abbott.
"Whilst routine immunisation is an important issue, it is not a direct contributor to polio eradication," said Mr Knowles, who was drafting letters to Prime Minister Turnbull and all Australian Rotary clubs on the weekend.
Rotary is a partner in the Global Polio Eradication Initiative, along with the World Health Organisation, the United States Centres for Disease Control and Prevention and the United Nations Children's Fund.
It was a Queenslander, Sir Clem Renouf, who helped kickstart the global polio eradication effort while president of Rotary International in 1978.
Eminent immunologist and former Australian of the year Sir Gustav Nossal said while routine immunisation was important it was different to the effort required to eliminate polio.
"That is a job that needs to be finished for the sake of the world. If you let it go, then within a few years, the thing will come back and it will be as bad as it ever was," he said.
The setback comes at a moment when polio cases are at a historic low, raising the prospect that a polio-free world could finally be within grasp.
The disease remains endemic in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Nigeria, but last month marked a year without a case of wild polio on the African continent for the first time in history. The number of cases detected in Pakistan this year is less than a third of the number detected at the same point last year.
Michael Sheldrick, the policy director for the Global Poverty Project said the decision was a case of "robbing Peter to pay Paul" and was being seen by agencies involved in the polio eradication effort as a cut to the government's support.
"Routine immunisation is critically important to saving children's lives. It's essential to this. We're not debating that. But the government can't hide behind this decision and not admit it hasn't reduced its support for global polio eradication efforts," he said.
Mr Sheldrick said Mr Turnbull had an opportunity to reverse the cuts, noting that it was Mr Turnbull, who as Liberal leader six years ago, committed his party to increase Australian aid to 0.5 per cent of national economic output.
The Global Polio Eradication Initiative has estimated that with a small increase in resources it would be possible to eradicate polio globally by 2018.
Polio would be only the second human infectious disease to ever be eradicated, after small pox.
The last wild polio virus case in Australia was reported in 1972.
