Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, the Hon Julie Collins MP
Minister for Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water, the Hon Murray Watt
The Albanese Labor Government is delivering further funding to continue safeguarding the country against the impacts of H5 bird flu, bringing the Government's total bird flu investment to more than $270 million.
$125 million will be available to support immediate national emergency biosecurity response activities for H5 bird flu, which are cost-shared equally by the Commonwealth, states and territories.
This means that the Commonwealth will be able to quickly agree to nationally cost-shared activities, as the response continues to evolve.
These activities include vital surveillance and early detection, on-ground response capability, targeted initiatives for priority threatened species and conservation, and local community engagement.
An additional $20 million will boost and extend on-ground action for key native wildlife species and locations, emergency response activities for native wildlife including in Commonwealth-managed national parks, and supporting citizen science work.
We will be seeking matched contributions from states and territories for the Commonwealth's new funding.
This funding builds on significant work already undertaken over several years by the Albanese Labor Government to strengthen Australia's preparedness and response capabilities for H5 bird flu.
This included funding rapid response equipment in states and territories, supporting technical experts with vaccine preparation and rollout in priority native bird species, eradicating feral animals to lift wildlife resilience, boosting biosecurity at wildlife facilities across the country, and launching a national bird flu reporting dashboard.
It also builds on the Government's more than $320 million investment through the Saving Native Species program. It aims to strengthen the resilience of threatened species and ecosystems, including existing threats that can leave wildlife more vulnerable to outbreaks like H5 bird flu.
Our Government's nationally coordinated action, with close collaboration across the agriculture, environment and health sectors support minimising impacts on wildlife, our agriculture system, and human health, including mental health and community wellbeing.
There have been over 29,000 calls to the national bird flu hotline, and 330 H5 bird flu events across the country.
There have been no detections of H5 bird flu in poultry or the wider agriculture sector at this stage, and the risk to human health remains low.
Since coming to office, the Albanese Labor Government has invested over $2 billion in additional biosecurity resourcing to strengthen Australia's world-leading biosecurity system.
Quotes attributable to Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, Julie Collins MP:
"Our Government continues to take the detection of H5 bird flu seriously, which is why we're delivering this additional funding to ensure Australia's bird flu response continues to be swift and coordinated.
"We're working around the clock with states and territories, our agriculture industries, our wildlife and technical experts, and communities to respond to detections quickly, and to help manage the risks this virus brings.
"We know that strong biosecurity is our strongest line of defence, which is why our Government has not only invested early, but continues to provide support to industry to boost their preparedness.
"While Australia has not detected H5 bird flu in poultry or the wider agriculture sector at this stage, we are taking a proactive approach to ensure we remain prepared and ready to respond."
Quotes attributable to Minister for Environment and Water, Murray Watt:
"We know that, based on the overseas experience, it's unfortunately not possible to stop the spread of H5 bird flu in wild birds and mammals, but we have been able to learn from the outbreak on other continents.
"For several years now, the Albanese Government has been working with states and territories, conservation groups, and wildlife health and other experts to invest in projects across the country to prepare for a H5 bird flu outbreak. As a result, our most at-risk species are in a better position to withstand and recover from the impacts of this virus.
"From supporting Kangaroo Island's Australian sea lions to the Christmas Island frigatebird, close to 70 on-ground projects are well underway across the country to boost species' resilience by tackling other threats. A further 31 threatened species are better protected with boosted biosecurity for captive breeding populations.
"This additional funding will support the expansion and extension of bird flu preparedness and response measures for H5 bird flu in wildlife across Australia, including Commonwealth-managed national parks. We will continue to work with all jurisdictions to ensure we're taking sensible actions to protect our at-risk bird and mammal species, informed by best available evidence."
