Doorstop in Canberra

E&OE TRANSCRIPT 
DOORSTOP
CANBERRA
THURSDAY, 17 SEPTEMBER 2026 

SUBJECTS: H5 bird flu response 

ALICIA PAYNE, MEMBER FOR CANBERRA: Good morning, everyone. It's wonderful to be here this morning at the National Zoo & Aquarium here in Canberra with Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, Julie Collins, the acting Chief Vet, Dr Brant Smith, and Dr Joanne Johnson, who's the vet here at the National Zoo & Aquarium. This is one of Canberra's much-loved places. This is an incredibly special zoo. I've been here with the Little Penguins this morning, watching them have a beautiful swim and I know this is a zoo that is really committed to the wellbeing and health of animals, both in their zoo and all around the world. And it is a place that Canberrans love to come. And I know that they'll be really pleased to hear this morning about the important role that the zoo is going to play as part of our response to bird flu. This morning, the Minister will be announcing that the zoo here will be vaccinating birds here at the zoo and aquarium. And this is backed by our $2 million investment in securing vaccines and as part of our $270 million approach to bird flu. So, I know that Canberrans will really be pleased to hear that the Little Penguins and other birds here will be part of our response to bird flu, something that our government is taking incredibly seriously and I'd like to hand over to the Minister now. 

JULIE COLLINS, MINISTER FOR AGRICULTURE, FISHERIES AND FORESTRY: Thanks, Alicia. It's terrific to be here with Alicia and with our acting Chief Vet and the vet here at the National Zoo & Aquarium. I am pleased to be able to advise today that the government has approved for the vaccination here of the Little Penguins and some of the parrots here at the zoo that are in the aviary just next door. This now brings the total of approved vaccines in response to the H5 bird flu from the Australian Government now to 9,600. So, almost 10,000 birds in Australia will be vaccinated against the H5 bird flu. We are able to do this because of our early investments in preparedness. $113 million in early investment includes $2 million to purchase vaccines and work with the CSIRO in relation to the science and the testing, and other scientists in relation to making sure that Australian wild birds, our unique birds, are able to tolerate this vaccine. This is great news for the birds, and here at the National Zoo & Aquarium, particularly the Little Penguins who have been putting on a little performance for us here this morning, we can say that now over 1800 of those birds approved for vaccination have been vaccinated today. We are taking the advice of our technical experts in relation to when and how the birds get vaccinated, and they're done on a program depending on what is happening in those local jurisdictions, and depending on a whole range of things in relation to the birds and the seasons. We're only able to vaccinate captive birds or managed populations of birds. This is because the birds require two vaccines. They need to have the first vaccine to be monitored and then have a second vaccine a few weeks apart. So, we have been working with all the states and territories who have been prioritising the vaccination of particular species in their jurisdictions, and it's terrific that here in the ACT that we're going to start vaccinating some of the Little Penguins and the parrots here, here at the National Zoo & Aquarium and I understand those vaccinations are likely to start to take place from next week. Just in terms of the H5 detections in Australia, as of today, we have 551, as of this morning events right across the country. The ACT still remains free of any detection of the H5 bird flu, but of course, we have had detections in every state and a territory, right across the country. We have now, as a government, invested and have available up to $270 million in terms of the H5 bird flu response. We continue to have discussions and meetings with our state and territory counterparts in relation to how this is being managed by them on the ground. We also, of course, continue to have regular discussions with industry and making sure that our poultry and agriculture systems are ready in terms of the H5 bird flu, and I can confirm that we have no detection in our poultry or agricultural systems at this point in time and that the risk to human health remains low. I'll now hand over to Dr Joanne to actually talk about what's going to happen here at the zoo. 

DR JOANNE JOHNSON, NATIONAL ZOO & AQUARIUM: We very much welcome the endorsement of our proposal to vaccinate a number of the birds we have here at the National Zoo & Aquarium against the H5 bird flu. Obviously, the health and welfare of all of our animals is our highest priority. Preventative health care programs, grounded in really strong biosecurity but supported by measures like vaccination, are essential for reducing disease risk and for allowing us to effectively protect our animals and the greater community as well. At the current time, we're in cooperation with the Priam Psittaculture Centre just across the border in New South Wales, with the aim to start our vaccination program towards the end of next week. 

COLLINS: We've also got Dr Brant Smith here, our acting Chief Vet, if there's any technical questions or anything anybody would like to ask. 

JOURNALIST: I guess the response that we are seeing for bird flu across the country. Are you sort of happy with how it's going and that resilience building across the country, would you say? 

DR BRANT SMITH, ACTING AUSTRALIAN CHIEF VETERINARY OFFICER: So, the preparedness and response has been world-class. So, we've been working with our colleagues overseas, learning from them and understanding how to prepare and plan for this event. So, the exercises that we've done to prepare with our diagnostics, with our laboratories, have put us in the best possible position. So, it is working incredibly well.  

JOURNALIST: We saw in the ACT a vet, a cat vet, was posted about, I guess, some precautionary biosecurity measures. How important is it for all, I guess, of the community to be prepared or to do what they can, especially even with a vet and a cat vet. 

SMITH: It's incredibly important. We've got a lot of information on our website, birdflu.gov.au, for vets, for carers, for the public to be informed and take those precautions, and we're working very closely with the vet profession, as a vet myself, to make sure they're all very well prepared as well. 

JOURNALIST: Do you find that the response, you know, we have seen in every state and territory, ACT seems to be resilient once again, but knowing that it was in the Greater Crested Tern in Goulburn, are you looking specifically at potential species like that here in the ACT or all birds across ACT? 

SMITH: So, we're working very closely with the ACT Chief Vet, and yes, we were aware of that Greater Crested Tern, which is quite unusual to be this far inland because it's been mostly coastal. That's part of our surveillance and response mechanisms, and the awareness that the public have, they report that through the EAD hotline, which is a 24/7 number. And that's been helping us be able to respond as quickly as we can and make sure we're as prepared as we can be. 

JOURNALIST: We knew that this was inevitably coming. How many cases would not be a surprise, or at what point would it become, I guess, too much down handle or something like that? Is this still in our measures of control for Australia? 

SMITH. So, what we've been able to do is learn from overseas and then understand how it's been occurring in Australia. Part of that's through our work with our diagnostics and sequencing to know the spread of the disease. So, it has been following pathways through the coastal areas mostly, and we've been monitoring that very carefully with the states and territories. So, at this point in time, it's well-managed. 

COLLINS: Any questions for me? 

JOURNALIST: Yeah, Julie, just in regards to - we've seen it affect mammals, seals and the like. Would there be any rollout of vaccines for any of these mammals in captivity, or is it specifically birds? 

COLLINS: Well, I'll respond to that, and I might have our Chief Vet say some more words in relation to that. What I can say, of course, is that we have had a few detections in mammals. These are not unexpected, although, of course, I know that it is concerning for the Australian public. But we have been very clear that this is the trajectory that we expect to see. We do expect to see more marine mammals be detected with the H5 bird flu, as it does make its way across the country. And certainly that has been the experience overseas. At this point in time, there is no commercially available vaccine in terms of mammals. We also know that Australia has some quite unique mammals, so we are working very closely in terms of some of the trials that are occurring overseas, particularly in the USA, in relation to some monk seals that are being tested for a vaccine in Hawaii and California, and we continue to have those discussions. What I can say is, certainly, as a government, we have been on the front foot in terms of vaccinations. What we're talking about today, with almost 10,000 birds, is globally very significant in terms of the number of birds that we are attempting to vaccinate here in Australia, and certainly what you've seen from our government is we're doing everything that we can do in relation to making sure Australia has been as prepared as we possibly can be. And certainly, you know, vaccines become available, we'll work through the proper processes and I'm happy to have Dr Brant Smith say, if he will, words about where we're at with that. 

SMITH: Thanks, Minister, I think you've covered most of that. It is important for us to look at. It is limited at the moment, but we are certainly looking at what could be possible. But this program that we've got in place now is world-leading, so we are aware of the need to look at these, but we have to do it safely and make sure that it's effective, and that's part of the work that we're doing at the moment. 

JOURNALIST: And the resilience of, I know the Invasive Species Council was a bit critical in response to, you know, preparing landscapes or the islands, especially off that Wollongong, where there's - and I'm not exactly sure the exact island there. How, I guess, have communities been proactive? You know, the local volunteers that are putting, you know, who love their birds so much, how vital have they been in this response? 

COLLINS: Well, can I say, the Australian public has been extraordinary. What we have seen from the Australian public and what we know is that the public is our first and strongest line of defence when it comes to biosecurity and we've now had around 44,000 calls to our national hotline of reports of sick or dead birds or animals and so, I do want to thank the Australian public for the reporting and remind Australians, if you do see sick or dead birds, please do not touch them, please avoid contact. Please record where they are, and please report it through birdflu.gov.au. The other thing that I would say, around half of our investments in relation to our early preparedness were on resilience and working with some of those threatened species in relation to improving their habitats and making sure that they are as resilient as they possibly could be. I know that the Department of Environment and my colleague, Minister Murray Watt's Department, have done a lot of work in relation to working with states and territories to make sure that that is the case. And when we talk about the $113 million of early investment, that doesn't count the investments also by the states and territories and, of course, we have, as part of the $270 million, a further $20 million that Minister Watt is working on in relation to what else we can do in relation to threatened species. But what you see here today is us actually vaccinating some of those species in captivity. And I have been in Western Australia, South Australia, Victoria, where we have been, and my home state of Tasmania, seen some of the threatened species of our birds being vaccinated against the H5 bird flu. 

JOURNALIST: Where's the next place that the birds will be vaccinated? 

COLLINS: So, we are working with the states and territories, obviously, as I said, Tasmania is doing some vaccinations, Western Australia has, South Australia, Victoria, New South Wales and we continue to work with other jurisdictions in relation to their priority lists for vaccination. As we said, we have been proactive, we have tested vaccinations, we have got done some of the science in relation to Australia's unique species. As we've heard from the Chief Vet, we do need to be careful and make sure that we are protecting these birds and that there are no adverse effects on them. So, we have been doing that based on the technical and expert advice and the timing of those vaccinations is also based on the technical and expert advice. 

JOURNALIST: And lastly, just in the poultry sector, I obviously know it hasn't been found there, but at what point, I guess, does the government or does that response ramp up for that? I guess that's the biggest pose on human life. 

COLLINS: So, we have been working incredibly closely with the poultry industry, both the chicken meat and the egg-laying industry in relation to the H5 bird flu, as we have other industries as well to make sure that they are doing everything that they can do. Improving their biosecurity is their strongest form of defence when it comes to keeping the H5 bird flu out of our system. As I said, I can reiterate at this point in time there is no evidence of any incursion into our poultry or agriculture systems, however, what we have seen with the H5 bird flu overseas is we have seen spillover into poultry and agriculture systems, but here in Australia we're as prepared as we possibly can be, and we continue to have regular discussions, working very closely with industry.