Doorstop in Hobart

E&OE TRANSCRIPT 
DOORSTOP
HOBART
SUNDAY, 27 SEPTEMBER 2026 

SUBJECTS: H5 bird flu campaign 

JULIE COLLINS, MINISTER FOR AGRICULTURE, FISHERIES AND FORESTRY: Thank you and good morning. Across the country, the latest number of H5 bird flu is Six hundred and fifty-two events that have occurred. We now have Three hundred and nineteen in South Australia, Sixty-seven in NSW, two in Queensland, forty-five in Tasmania, two hundred and eight in Victoria, ten in Western Australia, and one in other territories, one is in Jarvis Bay. Our government obviously is continuing to work with states and territories in relation to the H5 bird flu, as it's known in Australia. We are investing now more than $270 million to help safeguard Australia against the impact of the H5 bird flu. Through this investment, as I've said, we've been working very closely with states and territories to almost to vaccinate almost 10,000 native birds across the country against the H5 bird flu. This investment also includes funding for a new national information campaign which we are launching today. The "Bird Flu - know what to do" campaign will provide practical, trusted information to Australians to help them protect wildlife, poultry and pets from the threats of the H5 bird flu. Bird Flu - know what to do campaign will run across television, radio, social media and other media channels. It will be an electronic campaign that will run for six weeks. What it does is it encourages Australians to take simple steps to know what to do if they encounter a suspected bird flu event. I remind Australians to avoid touching sick or dead birds and to report suspected cases to the Emergency Animal disease hotline through birdflu.gov.au, it has clear, trusted, practical advice in relation to protecting pets and backyard poultry. It will continue to be available on birdflu.gov.au. It builds on all of the work that we've already undertaken to inform Australians about the H5 bird flu. I do want to thank Australians again for the reporting of sick and dead birds. With over 50,000 calls now to the National Emergency Animal Disease Hotline, I reiterate that at this stage there is no evidence of any infections in our poultry or agriculture systems and the risk to human health remains low. But I say to Australians, if you do notice sick or dead birds or other animals showing signs of bird flu, you should not touch them or get too close. Please record your location and report these birds and go through birdflu.gov.au happy to take some questions.

JOURNALIST: I guess, why is it so important to have this campaign rolling across the nation? Is it to ensure, like a nationally consistent approach or, I guess, what's the thinking there?

COLLINS: Yeah, what we want to do is provide Australians with that trusted, practical advice if they have any questions or if they encounter dead birds about what to do. So, this is about practical, trusted information that's based on the advice that we have received from our experts. So, if you have backyard chickens and you have localised bird flu in your area, it will give you practical advice about what to do. If you're taking your dog out for a walk and you come across dead birds, it'll give you practical advice about what to do. So, it's really practical advice that is tailored for everyday Australians.

JOURNALIST: And I guess, what do you attribute the reason that we haven't seen any infections in poultry yet, is that because people have been taking the necessary precautions?

COLLINS: Well, we've been working very closely with industry over a very long period of time now in preparing Australia as much as we possibly can. We've always been very clear that we couldn't stop the H5 bird flu from getting to Australia, but what we could do is spend that time getting as prepared as we possibly can be. And that's what you've seen from Australia. The fact that we've been able to detect the bird flu from its very first moment it arrived and as it makes its way across the country shows what a strong system Australia has in terms of our biosecurity. And again, I do want to thank the Australian public for their role in that. They have been tremendous. And this is about making sure that the Australian public have the information that they need.

JOURNALIST: With the 10,000 birds being vaccinated, is that kind of the vaccination program completed or is that work still ongoing to vaccinate more birds or more doses or anything?

COLLINS: So, that work is still underway. And again, it's based on the technical and expert advice of our wildlife experts on the right time to vaccinate the birds and when we should be vaccinating birds in terms of the efficacy of the vaccine. It's like a human vaccine. It doesn't last forever. Birds need to have two shots. So, we are working with technical experts and states and territories are giving us their priority lists in terms of what they want to vaccinate, and the states and territories are undertaking those vaccinations.

JOURNALIST: And do you have, I guess, the list of which Tasmanian animals have received that vaccine?

COLLINS: Well, I was with the state Minister when the vaccine vaccinations commenced for the orange bellied parrots. So, we certainly have started vaccinating some of those here in Tasmania. But across the country, what we're focusing on prioritising is, of course, our threatened species that are in captivity. But also, we have been working with particularly the Victorians and some other jurisdictions in relation to some managed cohorts of little penguins.