Interview with Steve Austin, ABC Brisbane

E&OE TRANSCRIPT
RADIO INTERVIEW
ABC BRISBANE
FRIDAY, 14 AUGUST 2026

SUBJECTS: H5 bird flu, Varroa mite

STEVE AUSTIN, HOST: So, let's go to Julie Collins. Julie Collins is Federal Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry Minister. I know you're pretty busy, Minister, so thanks for joining me this morning.

JULIE COLLINS, MINISTER FOR AGRICULTURE, FISHERIES AND FORESTRY: Thanks for having me on and I wish I was at the EKKA with you today. I hope it's a great day at the EKKA.

AUSTIN: It's a lot of fun. So, poultry is one of the industries that's being displayed here this week and there's a lot of discussion behind the scenes about what the coming bird flu may mean for them. Minister, I know you gave an address to Parliament recently about where Australia is at with the bird flu. Can you give me an update? What is the situation today, please?

COLLINS: Yeah, thank you very much. We're moving away from testing individual birds in those areas where we have a lot of transmission. So, we're now recording events. We have around 186 positive events across Australia, but essentially across all six states now we've had a detection of the H5 bird flu. Most of the detections have been in greater crested terns in an area where there's local transmission along the South Australian-Victorian border. So, we've had mostly crested terns and some other sea birds in that area. The other detections, such as the one in Queensland, have been in migratory birds and they've been single migratory birds coming that we assume have been blown up from the sub-Antarctic.

AUSTIN: Queensland sort of has so far managed to avoid what's happening down south. How, any idea as to if that's going to stay the case, do you know, Minister?

COLLINS: Well, obviously we can't stop wild birds and we've always said we could not stop the H5 from coming to Australia. But what we've done is we've used the time to prepare. The time that we've had from the rest of the globe. So, the rest of the globe has been dealing with it for quite some time. So, both in Queensland and across the country, we have been investing and preparing for this bird flu to arrive. So, we're not going to be able to stop it. But what we can do is do everything we can to prepare so that we're detecting it early. So, that means that people on the ground can respond locally and know when and where the H5 bird flu might be in their area, in their region, but also importantly to protect some of our threatened native species. And we've invested in that too.

AUSTIN: Alright. One of the things that people have been asking about, what will it mean for those, the morning birdsong. Like we have a lot of kookaburras and crows and magpies here first thing in the morning, which are a gorgeous way of waking up. Are they at all at risk from catching bird flu?

COLLINS: Well, we've seen it primarily in seabirds and then in some sea and marine mammals, but we do know, of course, that it does spread through birds and through mammals. So, we don't know because we've got unique birds in Australia that have never seen this strain of bird flu before, just exactly how it will impact them.

AUSTIN: Right

COLLINS: So, we've been working with the states and territories and they've been doing an assessment of vulnerability, particularly of threatened species to the H5 bird flu. And each state and territory has done a bit of an assessment about what their most threatened species are. And a list of those is available on the Department of Environment's website.

AUSTIN: This is 612 ABC Brisbane. It's twelve past nine. We're broadcasting live from the Royal National Agricultural Association Exhibition, or the EKKA as it's known. Steve Austin's my name. On the phone from Canberra is Julie Collins, Federal Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry Minister. Julie Collins, a lot of the poultry producers here, I've heard, are actually locking up their hens., their laying hens. You know, it's a big industry here. It's a big industry in Australia. Is there anything more that producers should be doing to protect their poultry?

COLLINS: Yeah, we certainly know that people are concerned. What I would say is, I would reiterate, we have no evidence of it in our poultry or agricultural systems at this point in time. So, I need to be really clear about that. I also need to be clear that there's a low risk to human health at this point in time for the listening public. But what I would say is we're working very, very closely with the poultry industry and we have been working with them in relation to the H5, but we've also learned a lot from the H7 bird flu incursions that we've had over the past few years. And we've improved and increased biosecurity, and I know that a lot of our poultry producers have done that. We also have a lot of resources online at birdflu.gov.au for those smaller producers or the people with the backyard chickens about what to do. So, we've certainly provided as much resource and information to people and been as transparent as we can at the earliest opportunity in relation to the H5. But we do understand, and we have seen overseas that there has been spillover into poultry. So, we're doing everything we can do to keep it out. And we've improved our biosecurity systems in poultry quite significantly.

AUSTIN: Yeah, there are quite a lot of backyard chickens here in, in Queensland. So, the website is birdflu.gov.au is that right?

COLLINS: birdflu.gov.au. And there's a lot of information in there for people in relation to a whole range of questions and answers and things that people might have in relation to the H5 bird flu. So, it's a great resource for all members of the public.

AUSTIN: Alright.

COLLINS: It's also the place to report any sick or dead birds that people may see.

AUSTIN: But you don’t want us to touch them?

COLLINS: That's right.

AUSTIN: Report them, do not touch them.

COLLINS: Do not touch them please, because you could risk the spread.

AUSTIN: Right.

COLLINS: If indeed it is bird flu. So, we do ask people to be careful and avoid. But record where you are, if you can take a picture or a video and then go to birdflu.gov au so that we can let people know. And we've had, you know, 15,000 calls now nationally to that hotline and there's been a lot of tests done by a lot of states around the country. And then of course, we have had the confirmatory testing at our CSIRO laboratory in Geelong.

AUSTIN: This is 612 ABC Brisbane, quarter past nine. Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, Julie Collins is my guest. Steve Austin's my name. Julie Collins, here at the EKKA, we've been talking with beekeepers. They're really facing a problem with varroa mite. I'm sure as Minister you'd be across that. Apiarists are looking for further scientific support from you over and above what's already happening through the department. Here's Murray Arkadieff from the Queensland Beekeepers association who told me this yesterday. Let me play it for you and I'll come back to you.

[Excerpt]

MURRAY ARKADIEFF: I've asked in a letter to the state and federal Ministers and the AG Ministers and the Premier. I've asked for a scientific panel similar to what they have in New Zealand. There is so much information out there. We just need something very similar to that, a scientific panel reviewing the science into varroa pathogens and bacteria that are affecting and killing the bees en masse right now. And that would be a good start of an investment for money.

[End excerpt]

AUSTIN: Can you give any further assistance to the beekeepers, Minister?

COLLINS: Yeah, well, first of all, I would say we do understand how devastating varroa mite can be and we do understand the beekeepers and the stress that this is causing around the country. And since the first detection, we've obviously been working very closely with our experts and researchers and the scientific panel that your beekeeper was talking about there. So, very similar with all the experts on it, but also importantly with industry on it to make decisions about whether we are with the varroa mite in Australia and unfortunately it was deemed that we couldn't eradicate it. So, over the last few years we have been working and working with states and territories essentially to make sure that we can transition to a management system, but based on the most available science. So, we continue to work with researchers and scientists and with the state and territory governments and with industry about what is an effective management. And then of course we've got the independent APVMA that's assessing and approving new applications for treatment options as they become available. But unfortunately we have also seen a treatment resistant varroa mite that has been confirmed in NSW, Queensland, Victoria and South Australia, and we know how concerning that is. So, we do continue to work and you know, we continue to listen to that expert advice.

AUSTIN: So, they are looking for more scientific input in a sense, so they say, yes, thank you for your help, but they actually really need some specialist advice because you're right, I mean, they've had to burn their hives, Minister. Something like 30,000 hives have been burned.

COLLINS: I know, it’s devastating.

AUSTIN: They're just burning them. Now. hat has knock on effects for the avocado industry, the macadamia nut industry down the Victoria-NSW border, they've not been able to send hives there to pollinate these other food products. So it’s wider afield.

COLLINS: So, you can see how devastating this has been. And you know, the federal government, we've contributed, I think around $40 million now. But we do continue to work with the states and territories, with the experts and with the industry around what else may be needed as this does make its way across the country. And certainly we're doing everything we can to manage it.

AUSTIN: All right, I'll leave it there and speak to you again, no doubt, because this issue is not going away. I really appreciate your time, Minister, thank you very much.

COLLINS: Thanks very much.