Andrew Laming (Bowman, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Health and Ageing. Would the minister provide information to the House on Exercise Cumpston and how it will help to protect Australians from a possible influenza pandemic?

Tony Abbott (Warringah, Liberal Party, Leader of the House) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Bowman for his question, and I acknowledge in particular the work he has done as a doctor on public health issues, particularly in places like East Timor. Australia is recognised as a world leader in pandemic preparedness. So far the government has committed some $600 million towards, amongst other things, building up one of the world’s largest antiviral stockpiles and helping to improve surveillance and treatment capacity in our region.

Exercise Cumpston, which will begin on Monday, will be Australia’s largest ever health simulation exercise. It will help test our border control, disease detection and surveillance, contact tracing, quarantine and treatment systems. It will also test our decision-making structures, our coordination mechanisms and our communications strategy. One feature of the exercise will be the arrival at Brisbane Airport on Tuesday of a plane carrying at least one person infected with pandemic flu. This exercise will run over four days, it will cost more than $4 million, it will involve more than 1,000 Commonwealth and state officials and other health personnel and it will be attended by 55 foreign observers. This exercise will help to demonstrate that you can trust the Howard government with the security of Australia. You can trust the government to handle health security and biosecurity as well as other national security issues.