Mal Washer (Moore, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is addressed to the Minister for Foreign Affairs. Would the minister update the House on action the government has taken to combat avian influenza in our region? Are there any alternative policies?

Alexander Downer (Mayo, Liberal Party, Minister for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the honourable member. Being a medical doctor, I know he is very interested in the issue. Since December 2003, there have been 224 cases of avian flu and 127 deaths from it. Last week the WHO importantly confirmed seven cases leading to six deaths in the northern part of Sumatra and it was suspected by the WHO that these deaths were caused by human-to-human infections among people living in very cramped conditions, although the WHO has gone on to say there is no evidence that this case indicates the virus can be spread easily between humans. Nevertheless, that incident is a salutary warning that this is still a very live and serious issue. Two days ago, the Indonesian government confirmed six more infections, including three deaths, elsewhere in Indonesia.

Australia is taking a leading role in dealing with this issue in the region. We spent $140 million over four years to combat pandemics and emerging infectious diseases. We have been working with APEC since 2001 on assisting the region to prepare for this problem. On 7 and 8 June, Australia will lead and fund the APEC pandemic response exercise, which will test regional coordination and preparedness and identify where we can significantly improve emergency communications in the region. Eight economies are going to participate: China, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Taiwan—or Chinese Taipei, as we say in APEC—Vietnam and also Chile.

Finally, the honourable member asked if there were any alternative views. As was pointed out by the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry the other day, I am delighted to report there are not any alternative views. The member for Griffith is in lockstep with the government on this issue, so much so that, as the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry pointed out, he published on Labor’s web site, interestingly enough on 11 September last year, words which are simply lifted in slabs from the World Health Organisation, the American Centres for Disease Control and Prevention and, I think, very flatteringly, from our own health minister’s documents as well.

On the face of it, you would expect us to welcome the opposition simply plagiarising the work of the government and other institutions, but it does remind me to remind the House that some 10 years ago the Labor Party made allegations against a Liberal MP—I think he was the member for Cowan at the time—of plagiarism. Let me remind the Labor Party that they dubbed it shameful and a massive deceit. They even went so far as to move a motion in the House to have that member and the plagiarised work referred to a parliamentary committee. I wonder if the House remembers that. It begs the question whether the Labor Party takes the same view today about members plagiarising the work of others, as the member for Griffith has done, and whether the Leader of the Opposition will this time have the courage to move a motion to refer the member for Griffith and his plagiarism to a parliamentary committee.