Doorstop in Hobart

E&OE TRANSCRIPT   
DOORSTOP   
HOBART 
FRIDAY, 31 JULY 2026   
  
SUBJECTS: H5 bird flu; Tasmania’s Medicare Urgent Care Clinics; Bell Bay Aluminium.

JULIE COLLINS, MINISTER FOR AGRICULTURE, FISHERIES AND FORESTRY: Thank you for coming along, I do want to start with an update on the latest H5 bird flu situation across Australia today. As many of you may be aware the CSIRO laboratory testing has confirmed the first case of the H5 bird flu in Victoria, a greater crested tern found in Portland. Testing has also confirmed a further four detections of the H5 bird flu in crested terns from Kangaroo Island in South Australia. This now brings the total number of confirmed detections of the H5 bird flu in Australia to 33. We now have 10 in Western Australia, 19 in South Australia, 2 in New South Wales, one in Victoria and one in Queensland. But we also have a further 22 suspect detections, 21 of those in South Australia and another suspected detection in Victoria. Given the evolving situation this morning I hosted a meeting of Australia's agriculture ministers and environment ministers together with my colleague, Minister Murray Watt, the Minister for the Environment. This was an opportunity for ministers across the country to discuss Australia’s preparedness and response to the H5 bird flu outbreak reinforcing our coordinated response. Ministers were briefed by the experts by this week's decision to enact the H5 national management agreement. This was based on the advice of our experts that the H5 bird flu in wildlife in Australia is not technically feasible to eradicate. Enacting the H5 National Management Agreement it builds on our swift and coordinated response to the H5 bird flu. Together the ministers today confirmed our commitment to continued collaboration and to do everything that we can do as governments, industry and wildlife experts together to help protect Australia's wildlife, our agricultural industries, our communities and our national economy from the impacts of the H5 bird flu. States and territories continue to undertake significant work on the ground in their jurisdictions to help manage the impact of the H5 bird flu, particularly surveillance and monitoring at the moment. This has been backed by a further $24 million in funding from the Australian Government and the states and territories together and this is in addition to the $113 million that the Federal Government has provided in preparedness and response capability. I do want to reiterate that at this time there is no evidence of any mass mortalities. There's also been no detections in our poultry or agricultural systems and that the risk to human health remains low, but I do want to end by thanking Australians for reporting sick or dead birds. If you see a sick or a dead bird or other animals please do not touch them. Please avoid, contact and record what you see and make a report through birdflu.gov.au where Australians can continue to receive up to date information on the bird flu in Australia. I'm happy to take some questions.

JOURNALIST: What are your scientists telling you about what the likely outlook is from here; is there sort of a projection that you can share with us?

COLLINS: So what our scientists and our experts have said is that we have evidence of local transmission amongst greater crested terns in South Australia. What we know is that the detection in Victoria is similar, very similar to the crested terns in South Australia and is near the border of South Australia. What we would expect to see and what we have indicated we would see and what the experts tell us is that we're likely to see more birds become infected with the H5 bird flu. What we don't have yet is any evidence that's established in Australian wildlife. What we do know is we have that local transmission in the greater crested terns in South Australia.

JOURNALIST: What kind of threat does this bring to Tassie, is this the closest that we've seen the virus, I guess in distance terms?

COLLINS: Well what we know, and hearing from the Tasmanian Minister today is that they are increasing surveillance here in Tasmania. There have been no confirmed detections in Tasmania at this point in time but I know that Tasmanians have also been reporting sick or dead birds like they have nationally and that have been triaged by the government and where appropriate testing is being undertaken so certainly we are working in a very coordinated way with our states and territories who are doing a mountain of work and the Australian public who are also doing a mountain of work with their recording and responding in terms of the sick and dead birds. What we've always known is that Australia's biosecurity system's best defence is our people and they have been terrific.

JOURNALIST: How concerned are you about the ongoing spread?

COLLINS: Well obviously our experience overseas shows various scenarios, but what we've got at the moment is that confirmed local transmission and I do reiterate that we have no evidence of any mass mortalities in Australia at this point in time. We have no evidence of it being in our poultry or agricultural system and that the risk to human health remains low.

JOURNALIST: What have you learnt from those overseas scenarios; is there anything that was put in place that we can mimic that would help stop the spread? I mean it's obviously difficult given the nature of birds?

COLLINS: Well obviously the experts decision that it's not technically feasible to eradicate particularly in wildlife I think indicates what the evidence overseas has been and that has been that we have seen significant infections overseas particularly in wildlife. What we know about this disease is that it's primarily in birds but it also obviously is in mammals so we'll continue to do everything that we can do working with industry, working with wildlife experts and our committee of experts to do everything we can do to minimise the spread of the H5 bird flu. What we know, sorry, what we do know is that our biosecurity is our strongest defence.

JOURNALIST: What updated advice are you giving to farmers, particularly free-range chicken farmers?

COLLINS: Well we have a lot of really good advice on birdflu.gov.au but certainly strengthening on-farm and on-property biosecurity is really the single biggest thing that people can do so this is to make sure that your birds can't interact with native birds and wildlife. Make sure that you have clean sources of water and clean sources of food and certainly there's advice particularly for Australians that might have, you know, a few free-range hens in the backyard on birdflu.gov.au and advise Australians that have them to go and have a look.

JOURNALIST: That advice around being unable to eradicate it, is it fair to say that that means that we will have to get used to the idea of living with this forever?

COLLINS: And certainly that has been the experience overseas.

JOURNALIST: What species are you particularly worried about in the wild?

COLLINS: Well obviously we have been working and preparing and our threatened species commissioner, Dr Fiona Fraser, has indicated in the past that we have done assessments particularly of Australia's threatened and endangered species. We have looked at what their threat map level may be, looking at overseas experience, but obviously we do have a lot of unique fauna and flora here in Australia that we want to protect particularly those native animals so we'll be doing and working with people to make sure that we increase their viability and that's certainly what our investments have been doing, we've seen investments to improve biosecurity particularly in terms of captive populations and as I said assessments have been done on those threatened species.

JOURNALIST: Are you likely to add to any of those insurance populations for different species that we don't already have?

COLLINS: Well obviously we will continue to monitor the situation very closely. We certainly have, through the national management agreement with states and territories an ability to work together to protect Australia's wildlife particularly threatened species so we'll continue to monitor it depending on what the outbreak, you know, looks like as it goes across Australia.

JOURNALIST: Based on overseas experiences, what does mitigation cost annually? What's the ballpark figure for what this might cost just going forward and as you say, sort of something we're going to have to live with now?

COLLINS: Well, obviously as I said, we've invested early as a Federal Government more than $113 million working with the states and territories we've released an additional over $24 million just in the last week or two. We'll continue to do what we need to do as a Federal Government but working with states, territories, industry and wildlife experts around what is going to be required as we move forward. Certainly we have well-established mechanisms in Australia for dealing with biosecurity incursions and we have dealt with them in the past and certainly that has been a cost-sharing arrangement with governments, state and territory governments and indeed industries.

JOURNALIST: Is one of the suspected cases a seagull and if so, would that be a particular concern?

COLLINS: Well what we've said is we do expect to see increased numbers of birds with the H5 bird flu and we'll continue to monitor the situation. What we know at the moment is that we've had it in sea birds, and coastal birds particularly, we've seen it in the skua that first arrived, we've seen it in petrels and we've seen it in the greater crested terns and we've got that localised transmission now suggestive of, in terns. We'll continue to look at the evidence and the data and we'll continue to make the Australian public up to date as soon as we get the relevant evidence and information.

JOURNALIST: Is one of those 22 suspected cases a seagull though?

COLLINS: I understand that there may be a gull that is a suspected case but we're waiting to get advice in relation to that.

JOURNALIST: If it is a gull, is that a particular concern in terms of they're in high numbers, they breed together, et cetera, would you be worried about that?

COLLINS: Well obviously we have been concerned about the H5 bird flu getting to Australia; we have been very fortunate not to have had it for quite some time. We always knew it would arrive via migratory birds and certainly what we've seen is it has been impacting coastal birds. So certainly I think the fact that the H5 bird flu is here in Australia is certainly of concern to many Australians, but I don't think it's unexpected.

JOURNALIST: When would you have those results typically?

COLLINS: Well certainly once there is a suspected case the CSIRO Australian Centre for Disease Preparedness undergoes further tests and that testing takes  various amount of time depending on the quality of the samples that arrive at that laboratory and how many other samples they are dealing with at that point in time, they're usually within a day or two.

JOURNALIST: If it is a seagull though the interaction between domestic chickens and seagulls are probably, going to be more likely, would you say?

COLLINS: What I'd say is our biosecurity system is our strongest form of defence and we have been working with our poultry industry in relation to improving biosecurity and making sure that their biosecurity systems are as robust as they possibly can be.

JOURNALIST: I've got a few on urgent care clinics, Minister.

COLLINS: Right, anything else on bird flu?

JOURNALIST: People are saying they're being turned away from urgent care clinics because they're overrun with patients and can't meet demand. Why are urgent care clinics struggling to meet demand?

COLLINS: Well obviously when the Albanese Labor Government got elected we didn't have any Urgent Care Clinics here in Tasmania, we've now got eight because we have worked hard to deliver those eight Urgent Care Clinics. What we do know is they've seen over 150,000 Tasmanians and we also know that the evidence suggests that half those would have ended up in an emergency department. We have worked incredibly hard with a general practice in Tasmania to get those Urgent Care Clinics up and running and they're a great achievement of the Albanese Labor government.

JOURNALIST: If that's the situation though with eight additional clinics on top of an emergency department, is it fair to categorise what we're seeing at the moment in our health system as a crisis?

COLLINS: What I would say is that the Tasmanian state government we are withdrawing funding from their health system here in Tasmania, it's up to the Tasmanian health department in relation to the way that the emergency departments work. But what I would say is that federally we've put in increased funding into our hospital system and emergency departments here in Tasmania and we've opened eight Urgent Care Clinics. What we also know is that the Tasmanian Health Minister in past was not supportive of urgent care clinics.

JOURNALIST: Obviously the Federal Government is responsible for primary health care, your Urgent Care Clinic in Launceston closes at 9 p.m. that is. Most doctors’ offices shut at 5 and if they're busy many urgent care clinics stop accepting customers well before closing times. What should Tasmanians do if they are busy and can't get that appointment?

COLLINS: Well obviously what we've done is we, as I said when we were elected there were no urgent care clinics here in Tasmania. We opened five in our first term and we've opened more in our second term. We continue to invest in our health system. We've got record funding in terms of primary health and GP, over $8 billion going into primary health. We're also training more GPs, we've also got our cheaper medicines and our urgent care clinics. The Federal Government is doing the heavy lifting when it comes to investing in health.

JOURNALIST: Do you accept though that there is a gap, you know, whether that's a few hours or whatever, but there is a gap where some people might not be getting the care they need quick enough?

COLLINS: What I'd say is that the Urgent Care Clinics have been a great investment by an Albanese Labor government and when we were elected there were none in Tasmania. There are now eight up and operating.

JOURNALIST: Are there enough doctors staffing those Urgent Care Clinics and are they open for long enough hours?

COLLINS: Well we continue to work with general practice in relation to the Urgent Care Clinics and the amount of clients and patients that they see and certainly what we know is that they have been a great success here in Tasmania and right across the country.

JOURNALIST: We've seen a bit of bickering between the federal and state governments over Bell Bay and now in health, you know this sort of push back on both sides. Do you think Tasmanians would much prefer to see the two levels of government work together on an issue like this?

COLLINS: I think Tasmanians expect all of us to work together all of the time and certainly that's what you've seen from the Albanese Labor government. We have record investments here in Tasmania. We continue to work with the Tasmanian state government and invest here in Tasmania and that is what you've seen from us in the past and what you will continue to see from us in the future and certainly I think Tasmanians want outcomes, they don't want politicians blaming each other. But what they also want is responsible governments and they want governments to invest in Tasmanians, it is the Tasmanian state government that is taking money out of its health budget.

JOURNALIST: On the Bell Bay situation will the Federal Government reconsider whether Bell Bay Aluminium is eligible for that funding given they did the announcement there, the Minister said they'd be eligible. will that now be reconsidered?

COLLINS: My understanding of the situation in relation to Rio Tinto at Bell Bay is that it's in relation to an energy contract with Hydro Tasmania and that would be a matter for the Tasmanian state government but what you've seen from our government is record investments in Northern Tasmania, what you've seen from our government is supporting and working with industry and with the Tasmanian Government in relation to significant investments in Northern Tasmania and Tasmania more broadly.

JOURNALIST: No doubt it's on the State Government to get the energy deal sorted, I agree with that. But on the funding that was promised that it would be eligible for is the Federal Government taking a fresh look at that given what was promised and then what was not delivered?

COLLINS: As I indicated we have got significant investments in Northern Tasmania and Tasmania more broadly and we continue to work with the Tasmanian state government and with industry and sector to make sure that we're investing in Tasmania.