Foreign Minister Julie Bishop has defended Australia's decision to close its borders to travellers from West Africa saying Ebola would "be out of control" if it reached the Pacific.

Immigration Minister Scott Morrision revealed the move on Monday, saying his department had stopped "procesing any application[s] from...affected countries", including applications for asylum.

Sierra Leone has slammed the move as "discriminatory".

"It is discriminatory in that ... it is not [going] after Ebola but rather it is ... against the 24 million citizens of Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea," Information Minister Alpha Kanu said. "Certainly, it is not the right way to go."

Liberia has also expressed its dismay at the move, saying it will create further stimagtisation. Liberia's President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf urged Australia to reconsider its travel ban.

"Anytime there's stigmatisation, there's quarantine, there's exclusion of people, many of whom are just normal, then those of us who are fighting this epidemic, when we face that, we get very sad," she told a news conference.

The World Health Organisation says Australia's travel ban will discourage critically needed health workers from travelling to West Africa to help contain the outbreak of the disease.

But Ms Bishop defended the move on Wednesday.

"The Australian government's first priority is the safety and security of Australians," she told ABC Radio.

"We're doing everything we can to keep our borders safe and we don't intend to allow Ebola to come to Australia, because if it came to this part of the world it would be out of control if it got into the Pacific," the Foreign Minister warned.

She said Australia was "well-prepared" for any risks of a domestic Ebola outbreak through screenings and contigency plans being rolled out in hospitals.

More to come

with Reuters

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