Doorstop at Parliament House, Canberra

E&OE TRANSCRIPT   
DOORSTOP   
PARLIAMENT HOUSE, CANBERRA  
MONDAY, 22 JUNE 2026   
  
SUBJECTS: H5 bird flu  

JULIE COLLINS, MINISTER FOR AGRICULTURE, FISHERIES AND FORESTRY: I should start with it’s terrific to have with us the Premier of Western Australia Roger Cook, who is obviously in Canberra for National Cabinet. My colleague Minister Murray Watt, of course the Minister for the Environment, our Chief Veterinary Officer, Beth Cookson, and our Threatened Species Commissioner, Dr Fiona Fraser, here again. This is because the testing at the CSIRO Australia Centre for Disease Preparedness has confirmed the H5 high pathogenic avian influenza in the brown skua in Western Australia, but further testing has now confirmed that we also have the H5 bird flu in the northern giant petrel found in the same region. So I want to reiterate that this is two birds that have been found with the H5 bird flu in an isolated area of Western Australia. I also want to reiterate at this time there are no, there is no evidence of any mass mortalities, particularly in our wildlife. I also want to reiterate that our poultry system and our agricultural systems remain free from the H5 bird flu. This is very important, particularly in terms of our trading partners. It’s also important that I reiterate that there is a low risk to human health when it comes to the H5 bird flu. Of course, we’ve now activated our national biosecurity response. As I indicated on Saturday, that response is being managed on the ground by Western Australia, and I’ll soon hand over to Premier Cook to talk about that on the ground in Western Australia. But from the Federal Government’s point of view, it is being coordinated right across government under the One Health, so myself, Minister Watt, Minister Butler and Minister McBain are involved primarily in making sure that right across the Federal Government we are coordinating the response at the national level. We have had meet twice now the emergency response group that will make decisions about whether or not we can eradicate or manage the H5 bird flu in Australia. That investigation and where we are is still in progress. We are working to determine whether or not the H5 bird flu has established in the wildlife or established in Australia other than these two isolated birds. I’ll hand over now to Premier Cook to talk about Western Australia’s response on the ground.  

ROGER COOK, PREMIER OF WESTERN AUSTRALIA: Thank you, Julie. I’m delighted to join Minister Collins and Minister Watt to continue to provide information and updates in relation to this latest biosecurity threat. Western Australia is – has a vast coastline, one that’s very exposed, particularly to migratory birds. And so from that point of view our absolute vigilance is key for that early detection to make sure that we can stay on top of any outbreaks of the disease. Can I just take the opportunity in the first instance to commend the Commonwealth for the work that they’ve done in early preparation. A lot of work has been done between the Commonwealth and the states to understand what we needed to do in the event that we had that detection. And that – those programs and protocols are now being stood up and the Agriculture Minister in Western Australia, the Honourable Jackie Jarvis, is working with the Commonwealth very closely to make sure that we are working together, hoping for the best, preparing for the worst. And being overprepared here is obviously key to making sure that we can respond to any biosecurity threat. Can I also commend the Western Australian community and their vigilance in relation to early detection of any outbreaks. The fact that these two particular specimens were found and acted upon, it just really is so commendable in relation to the actions of those two individuals, which now means we are in possession of the information that we need to stand up the protocols to respond as we need to do. My government has stood up a hotline for people to report any concerns or activity that they see in local wildlife or agricultural animals just to make sure that we’ve got the very best opportunity for continued early detection. And we want people to be vigilant. This is obviously a very concerning situation, but it’s one that we’re prepared for. And I want to continue to just also do the shout-outs to Western Australian industry. We know that there’s one particular poultry processing operation which has now taken proactive actions to make sure that they can do everything they can to ensure that there is no spread to the agriculture industry and that we can do everything we can to maintain the reputation and the health of the agriculture sector in Western Australia. So we’re continuing to work with the Commonwealth, and we from here on in, to make sure that we have every resource that we need and every opportunity that we can take to ensure that we stay on top of this – these early detections and minimise or eliminate any risk to the West Australian agriculture industry. Thank you.  

MURRAY WATT, MINISTER FOR THE ENVIRONMENT AND WATER: Thanks very much, Premier. It’s great that you happen to be in Canberra and that we can demonstrate how closely we are working together as governments. Can I also just back in the work that Julie Collins has been doing as the lead federal minister over the last few days, working tirelessly along with all of our officials to ensure that Australians are kept informed and to continue acting in relation to this threat. As Julie has acknowledged previously, it’s obviously disappointing to see now two cases of H5 in Australia, but it’s not unexpected. As I think most Australians now know, we are the only continent in the world that until now has not had this strain on our shores. And what that has meant is that it has given us time as a country to ensure that we are as well prepared as we possibly can be for the time when this strain eventually reached our shores. It’s important to remember that at this point in time we only have two confirmed cases. But we don’t underplay the threat that this poses to wildlife and our agriculture sector in Australia should this become a wider outbreak. And that’s why since those detections late last week all of the relevant plans to deal with this incident, all of the relevant committees have met, everything has been enacted because we’ve done the work with states and territories, with industry, with environment groups to make sure that we’re ready for when Australia did have its first detection of this strain. As you’ve heard previously, our government has funded $113 million worth of preparedness activities, including $11 million in the Federal Budget. And it’s that work that has enabled training of vets so that they know what to look for. It’s enabled the planning work that states and territories have done. And it’s enabled a lot of work to be done to build the resilience of the population of endangered species in Australia to ensure that we do have strong population numbers if this strain were to arrive. My department has – to inform that work, my department has previously undertaken a susceptibility analysis to make sure that we’ve got really good information about which species would be most at risk if we did see an outbreak occur, and it’s that work that is now informing how that money is being spent. The only other thing I was going to mention is that this afternoon at 5.30 I’ve called a special meeting of federal, state and territory environment ministers. I’ve spoken with a number of those ministers on the phone over the weekend to make sure that we’re joined up, but I also thought it would be worthwhile to bring those ministers together for briefings from Beth as the Chief Vet, from Fiona as the Threatened Species Commissioner, again, just to make sure that we’re all on the same page as we continue dealing with this. Very final thing – and Julie has mentioned this a couple of times as well – to the public, thank you so much for being vigilant, for making those calls to the hotlines. This is something we need to take seriously. And again, remember the best thing that people can do is avoid contact with unwell or dead birds, avoid physical contact. Record and report anything that you do find and call that emergency hotline, which is 1800 675 888. Thanks. We’re all happy to take questions.  

JOURNALIST: Can we just start with, this is the most basic level of advice for the public. Now that there’s been years of planning for this. We’ve seen the situation evolve in all other countries as you mentioned, Minister. What would you describe the likelihood of an outbreak to be in wild populations and in farm poultry populations? I understand that you can’t say it will or won’t get there but could you just describe your thinking around that? And just briefly, you mentioned, Minister Watt, that you’ve got lists of priority species and places, could we release that publicly? Could we see that list?  

COLLINS: Thank you for that. So I’ll answer the question in terms of the likelihood and what happens from here. So we’re at the investigative stage. So we are over the next three to five days up to possibly a week actually listing and looking at whether or not there is other infections. We want to see whether or not there has been an entrenched infection in the wildlife in Australia. And I’m happy to hand over to Dr Beth Cookson to talk more about how we do that and what does that look like. But essentially those calls are coming in from the increased surveillance, and the Western Australian Government will provide some testing of some of the samples from some of the reporting that’s coming in, and then we’ll get a clearer picture of whether or not this is more than two isolated birds, and we’ll make that decision. What we have seen globally is this it is very difficult to eradicate. We have been successful in eradicating the H7 virus twice in the last five years. But we do know that the H5 virus is much harder to eradicate if it gets into our agricultural system. We have seen overseas certainly a huge amount of funding going into management of the H5 bird flu in other agricultural systems across the globe. And we have seen, of course, some devastating impacts in terms of wildlife. But let me reiterate, at this stage we’re talking about two birds on an isolated beach. We’ve had those two confirmed. We are yet to establish whether or not it’s entrenched in Australian wildlife and I’ll hand over to Dr Cookson to answer that a little bit more, and then to Minister Watt.  

DR BETH COOKSON, AUSTRALIAN CHIEF VETERINARY OFFICER: Thanks, Minister. As the Minister has explained, we are prioritising the investigation of the two reported birds to see whether there is any evidence that it has spread to other susceptible species. The emergency animal disease hotline has been, is being used, as the primary mechanism to encourage people who are observing dead or sick birds to report. Our WA colleagues are very actively triaging those reports and they will assess whether there’s a requirement to take samples and have those tested. So far we don’t have any indication that it has spread to other populations, but that’s the first step that we need to take to establish whether these two individual migratory seabirds that have tested positive have been able to spread it to other birds. What we know from other situations is that if that’s the case and it has spread to other populations, then it can be quite difficult to contain. There’s not many practical, feasible actions that can be undertaken to control it once it’s in other populations. And that’s why we have put the preparedness efforts into ensuring that we are learning from the international experience and as far as possible we are minimising the risk to human health, to our animal industries and minimising threats to vulnerable species and to social amenity.

JOURNALIST: Presumably given the publicity this has been given, you’ve had reports of other dead birds. Can you tell us how many dead bird cases have been reported? How many are you actively investigating? And is there a significant chance that any of those cases that we might have other positives turn up?  

COOKSON: The Western Australian Government is the lead on the ground. I am aware that they have had an uplift in the number of reports coming through the emergency animal disease hotline. This is what we would expect. We have been encouraging through that public communication that the community reports sick and dead birds. That’s been happening. I don’t have the specific numbers of how many have been tested at this stage. I understand that there are a number of samples still on their way to the Western Australian laboratory that will be tested. I have been advised by the Western Australian CDO that there are no indications of mass mortalities, so I can’t say that there’s a high level of suspicion of any of those reports at this stage. We would expect a baseline level of deaths in wild populations at any time, and what we’re trying to do now in the early days of the investigation is to understand what’s being reported through the public hotline is associated with that normal baseline or whether there has been any indication of spread.  

JOURNALIST: So on that basis, is it fair to say there are no other cases at this stage for which there is a high level of suspicion of contamination?  

COOKSON: I have no information that would suggest that there is a suspect laboratory result or a situation of multiple mass mortalities that would indicate a high level of suspicion. That’s all I can say at this stage.  

JOURNALIST: Premier, can you say more on that?  

COOK: No, I don’t have any further details.  

JOURNALIST: Dr Cookson, given your knowledge of migratory patterns of birds, is it a matter of when and not if that the virus eventually – does eventually spread to the East Coast or other states like South Australia? And a question for Minister Collins: given that in the past few years we’ve seen outbreaks of the avian flu increase egg prices due to the culling of birds on specific farms, should consumers prepare themselves for increased egg prices and poultry prices?  

COOKSON: I’ll start with the first response. As you would be aware, we have been monitoring this situation that is been occurring globally for a number of years, and that’s why through the Australian Government investment we have been working together across all of the state and Commonwealth governments, we’ve been working across all of the different sectors, including the environment, the agriculture and the human health sectors to prepare for this incident. We’ve been very clear all along that this has been spread globally by migratory birds. We can’t prevent the entry of migratory birds, and we’ve been aware of a number of different migratory routes that might increase the threat to Australia. One of those is the spring migration that occurs with shore birds. The other situation that has been emerging is obviously the sub-Antarctic spread, and we’ve seen more reports of that over the last 18 months or so, including recently as reported from the Australian Antarctic Program through their investigation in the Heard Island and McDonald Islands. So we know that it’s moved closer into that sub-Antarctic region. These particular seabirds have their breeding sites in that sub-Antarctic region, so I would say it is unsurprising that at some stage these migratory birds, by multiple different pathways would arrive eventually on to Australian shores.  

JOURNALIST: And what other states do these birds sort of nest in and sort of, I guess, migrate to?  

COOKSON: Yeah, so these birds predominantly have breeding sites in the sub-Antarctic. They’re called pelagic species, which means that they spend other times out at sea where they’re feeding. They don’t often come of their own accord on to Australian shorelines. When they are sick or when there’s weather events that might blow them off course, they can come on to our shores, and there have certainly been sightings in the past. Those sightings, as far as I’m aware – and Dr Fraser may have some more information on that – can occur across the southern coastline. To help inform our coordinated surveillance efforts, the Consultative Committee on Emergency Animal Diseases that I chair have met and we have convened an expert wildlife advisory group. One of the things we have asked that expert wildlife advisory group to do is to provide further information on those movements and locations where birds may be able – more able to co-mingle or come into contact with other animals. And that will help inform the enhanced surveillance approach that we’ll take to determine whether this has spread further.  

JOURNALIST: There was mention of whether to –  

COLLINS: Sorry, did you want me to answer the rest of the other question?  

JOURNALIST: Yes, just on egg prices.  

COLLINS: Okay. So I think that’s probably a bit hypothetical because what we want to do obviously is focus on the initial investigation, and I’d reiterate that there’s two birds at the moment, two migratory birds. We have done all the preparedness and done all of the work, and we’ve learned from the H7 infections and also from overseas about keeping it out of the agricultural production as much as possible. And certainly we’re working very closely with both the chicken meat and the egg poultry system and industries to do everything that we can do and improve biosecurity in those systems and those areas to stop it from getting into those production systems. So we’ll be working incredibly hard with them. They’ve done a lot of work. As I’ve said, they’ve managed to eradicate now H7 twice in the last five or so years. So there has been a lot learnt in those industries about biosecurity and movements to try and keep it out of that system. So we’ll be doing everything that we can do working with industry and working with the sector to try and keep this H5 bird flu out of our poultry system. Can we do that forever? We don’t know the answer to that. That is a hypothetical, but we certainly have done all the preparedness, we’ve done a lot of work, working pre-emptively with both the egg and the chicken meat industries. They have improved their systems. We have been working with them to make sure that we can do everything that can to protect Australia’s food system.  

WATT: We’ve got time for one more, because we’ve got to get to Question Time.  

JOURNALIST: Further on that, the WA poultry facility that’s pre-emptively closed down, is that a sensible thing or is it too early to be doing that? What do you make of that?  

COLLINS: I understand that it’s not closed down, what it’s done is it’s just increased its biosecurity systems and strengthened its biosecurity.  

COOK: That’s right. 

COLLINS: I’m also aware that – and, you know, I’ve said this on Saturday in response to a question – is that the nearest chicken farm, for want of a better term, is about 300 kilometres away from where the isolated birds have been located.  

WATT: Okay, sorry, guys, we’ve got to get off to Question Time. Thanks for coming along.