Anne Urquhart (Braddon, Australian Labor Party) | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry. How is the Albanese Labor government working with state and territory governments and with industry in order to support the response to the detection of H5 bird flu in Australia?

Julie Collins (Franklin, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry) | Link to this | Hansard source

I do want to thank our fabulous member for Braddon. I know that the member for Braddon has been closely following the H5 bird flu outbreak, and she now obviously has some detections in her electorate—quite a number in Tasmania. I do want to reassure the House and the public that our response has been swift and coordinated, and that's because of the early investments that we made—the $113 million to making sure we are as prepared as we possibly can be and our response capability on the ground with the states and territories is what it should be.

I'm pleased to update the house that the vaccine rollout that I announced last week is progressing as guided by an agreed national approach and the technical advice of the experts, with states and territories identifying the priority species for vaccination. Over the weekend, the New South Wales government has announced priority species identified for potential vaccinations in New South Wales. They include little penguins and regent honeyeaters. This builds on the announcements last week from the Western Australian government about its vaccination trial of threatened cockatoos at the Perth Zoo, including the Carnaby's, the Baudin's and the forest red-tailed black cockatoos. The Tasmanian government has indicated that it will prioritise the vaccination of the orange bellied parrots. And I'm pleased to give the House an update today that the Victorian government has now commenced the vaccination of little penguins at Phillip Island and will then do St Kilda.

As I have said, the vaccinations are one part of Australia's bird flu response, but strong biosecurity remains our strongest line of defence. The technical advice that our government has received is that, as bird flu becomes more widespread in the wildlife, counting individual confirmed birds no longer gives us the clearest picture of where the disease is spreading. That's why our reporting of the bird flu detections has now evolved from individual cases to focus on H5 events.

Over the weekend, our government launched a new national reporting dashboard on birdflu.gov.au. This dashboard collates the data provided by the states and territories. It shows where the disease is spreading, which species are affected and the number of events in each area. This allows people on the ground to easily understand and see where bird flu is in Australia. I can report that there have now been over 250 events in Australia of the H5 bird flu, and Australians can be assured that our government will continue to update the public as regularly as we can as things change.

I want to again thank the Australian public for reporting sick birds. I can advise that we've now had over 22,000 calls to the national hotline. I want to reiterate that there remains no detection of bird flu in the poultry or agricultural systems and that the risk to human health remains low. If you see sick or dead birds, please do not touch them. Avoid contact, record what you see and go to birdflu.gov.au.

Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) | Link to this | Hansard source

on indulgence—I want to thank the minister for the extraordinary job that she's doing on this and thank the opposition because this is a bipartisan issue. This is a real challenge for our nation and for those people out there, whether they be farmers or people in the general public who are making these reports. This is truly a moment where the national interest is coming to the fore, and we are doing extraordinarily well under what are difficult circumstances.

Darren Chester (Gippsland, National Party, Shadow Minister for Veterans’ Affairs) | Link to this | Hansard source

on indulgence—I want to thank the Prime Minister for his kind words but also the minister, in particular, for last week organising a briefing for all members of parliament. Members and senators who attended were able to receive some up-to-date information which helped them pass on information to their constituents. There was one aspect of the briefing last week which I know the minister has taken on board. Many Australians are very passionate about our native wildlife, and the trauma associated with seeing these dead birds is an issue that we as a parliament are going to need to be cognisant of in the weeks and months ahead. It is traumatic for a lot of people who love the wildlife in their own communities, and we'll be doing everything we can to make sure we minimise the impact on Australians. In relation to our agricultural sector, I again agree with the minister that there is no reason for Australians to have any concerns about consuming Australian poultry and eggs. The agricultural sector and local authorities are working diligently to make sure we minimise the risk of any bird flu reaching the agricultural sector.

Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) | Link to this | Hansard source

I ask that further questions be placed on the Notice Paper.