Ms Anna Burke (Chisholm, Deputy-Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Health and Ageing. Will the minister advise the House on the latest swine flu developments and on the government’s response to date?

Nicola Roxon (Gellibrand, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Health and Ageing) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Chisholm for her question. I note that, as a Victorian, she is interested in developments and I thought it was important, given the changes yesterday, to bring the House up to date with a range of new arrangements. As at noon today there are 639 confirmed cases of H1N1 influenza , or swine flu, in Australia. There are 70 of those in New South Wales, 521—the lion’s share—in Victoria, 28 in Queensland, seven in South Australia, two in Western Australia, five in Tasmania, four in the ACT and two in the Northern Territory. I need to report that six Victorians have been hospitalised, but all are recovering well. Seventeen schools are currently closed: 12 in Victoria, four in Queensland and one in the Northern Territory. Most jurisdictions have now established flu clinics so that there is a particular place for people who are suffering flu-like symptoms to go and be assessed to see whether they have seasonal flu or H1N1 influenza. Globally there are now 66 countries affected, with 19,273 confirmed cases. Australia has about three per cent of those cases.

There has been some speculation about whether there are any restrictions on travel either within Australia or to and from Australia. I need to make it clear to members who are getting queries from their electorate offices that there are no restrictions in place within Australia and there are no travel restrictions on people coming into or leaving Australia. Yesterday I did announce with the Chief Medical Officer that Victoria has moved to a modified sustained response, while the national alert level still remains at ‘contain’. This has been done on the advice of the Chief Medical Officer and the Australian Health Protection Committee. These alert levels will continue to be reassessed daily as will, in particular, the different levels for different jurisdictions as they do cause some inconvenience to the public. I do need to emphasise as well that this different alert level for Victoria is likely to be transitional. It reflects an unusual distribution of these cases to date, but we expect very soon, in the coming days or weeks, that the rest of the country will similarly have more cases in their jurisdictions. At the moment we have that unusual distribution, with a high number of cases particularly in the northern suburbs of Melbourne.

I want to emphasise that there are no restrictions on travel and no advice that adults should in any way delay or defer their travel within Australia. Restrictions are suggested for adults only if they are a confirmed case. Governments have not implemented any restrictions on domestic travel, either at the state level or nationally. We have a clear view, and this is based on the medical advice, that people should not change their travel decisions within Australia; it is easier for us to continue to respond sensibly and calmly. Given the relatively small number of cases, it is important that we encourage people to continue with their normal lives while taking appropriate personal precautions. As I have said on a number of occasions, the best way to contain the spread of any type of flu is for people to observe good hygiene practice.

Members will be interested to know about the focus that all governments are putting on schools, particularly because they seem to be the environment where the disease spreads most easily. School-age children around the world seem to be being described as the super-spreaders of this disease because of the type of contact they have with each other, and parents have been asked on a voluntary basis to keep their children at home if there is a risk that they have been exposed to the H1N1 influenza. Governments are continuing to implement a policy of voluntary exclusion from school for a period of seven days for all children returning from areas where there is a high prevalence of the virus circulating in the community. As it stands now, that high prevalence is in the northern suburbs of Melbourne. That will change over time, but people do not need to fear any travel within Australia; they just need to be aware of the impact and the voluntary request that will be made for children to stay away from school if they have visited in particular those areas most affected and been involved in activities and close contact with other school-aged children. All jurisdictions are now implementing random sampling testing, known as sentinel testing, of influenza-like symptoms within the community so that we can help to identify and monitor the spread of swine flu and any changes in the dominant circulating influenza strain as we get into the seasonal flu period as well.

In the six weeks since the world first learnt of swine flu, the Australian government, with the help of the state and territory governments, has been acting thoroughly and consistently to ensure that our efforts go towards delaying the entry of the disease into Australia and containing its spread where possible, and we are now moving gradually to the phase where our focus will be on treating those who are most at risk in the community. Every day and every week that that delay in the spread of swine flu is successful gets us closer to the production of the vaccine, which of course will be distributed according to the latest information on whom this disease might be most harmful to.

So far in Australia the experience has been that this disease is mild but has a hard edge. We need to be conscious that there will be some in the community, particularly those with respiratory problems, who will be vulnerable to this disease. I remind people that all our efforts will continue to jump on those cases, where they are identified, particularly if they are in settings where people are at risk.

Anybody seeking information can still contact the swine flu hotline on 1802007. I am advised that it is receiving around 4,000 calls a day. Please be patient if you have any difficulties getting through. We have been advised that the information is proving very useful for parents who want information for their children or advice about when they should go and see a doctor.

Australia is one of the best prepared countries in the world to deal with this sort of situation, but it is going to be a marathon effort. I would like to thank the community and particularly the health professionals for the excellent work that they have been doing and for the demands that will continue to be placed upon them as this disease spreads throughout the country.