Greens senator goes it alone on Ebola trip

Greens Senator Richard di Natale says he'll visit Ebola-hit parts of West Africa to find out how Australia can help combat the disease despite the federal government denying him assistance on the trip.

He's accused Foreign Minister Julie Bishop of "hollow words" over Ebola at the United Nations and says he'll undertake his fact-finding mission with the assistance of the World Health Organisation.

"My aim is to get in there, speak to the people co-ordinating the response, find out what they need and come back and start advocating for it," he's told Fairfax Media.

Senator Di Natale, who worked as a GP and public health specialist before entering Parliament, leaves on Saturday for Sierra Leone and Liberia.

Earlier this month, Ms Bishop turned down his request for consular assistance in Africa. She said she would not "divert scarce resources from the High Commission in Ghana on the frontline of Australia's Ebola response".

Senator Di Natale says he has paid his own airfare and is co-ordinating his own transport, accommodation and logistics in Africa.