Interview with Angus Verley, ABC Country Hour

E&OE TRANSCRIPT
RADIO INTERVIEW
ABC COUNTRY HOUR
WEDNESDAY, 10 JULY 2024

SUBJECTS: Nearly $7 million investment in H5 avian influenza preparedness; biosecurity; sheep producer sentiment survey; more onshore meat processing

ANGUS VERLEY, HOST: The Federal Government has announced almost $7 million in funding to respond to the threat of the deadly H5 strain of avian influenza. The package includes almost $2 million for Animal Health Australia to investigate vaccinating animals against the flu. That has not happened to date. While there have been numerous detections of the H7 strain in eastern states in recent months, Australia remains free of the H5 strain. But experts have warned that might not be the case for long, saying migratory birds are likely to bring the strain to Australia this spring. I spoke earlier with Federal Agriculture Minister Murray Watt about the funding package.

MURRAY WATT, MINISTER FOR AGRICULTURE, FISHERIES AND FORESTRY: So today we're announcing the Albanese Government is investing another $7 million to prepare for a potential outbreak of a much more dangerous strain of bird flu than what we currently have in Australia. The strain that we do have in Australia - and obviously has affected around 12 commercial poultry and egg farms around Australia - is what's known as the H7 strain of that flu. That is a less serious strain than what we see circulating in other countries around the world, which is known as the H5 strain. What we want to do is make sure that we are as ready as possible if the H5 strain were to get to Australia.

So this investment that we're announcing today, this extra $7 million, is really about making sure that we are as well prepared as we possibly can be if the H5 strain does make it to Australia. One of the challenges we have is that this is a disease that is brought in by migratory birds. And, you know, it's a little bit hard to stop birds coming to Australia if that's where they choose to do and if that's what they've always done for years. But what we can do as be a prepared as we possibly can. So this money will increase surveillance, particularly across the north of Australia, as a major entry point for these birds, just to keep an eye on things and see if we do see strange loss of life amongst native birds when they are in Australia as well. But also it will be spent to investigate vaccines, communicate with the public around what the risks are, what to look for. As I say, it's really about being as well prepared as we possibly can be.

ANGUS VERLEY: So the focus is really on making sure that if it does come here, it's detected as quickly as possible?

MURRAY WATT: Exactly right. And it's a little bit like what we did when we saw foot and mouth disease and lumpy skin disease hit Bali not long after we became the government. We really stepped up our efforts at the time with the livestock community to make sure that people knew what to look, for that, we obviously increased vaccines into Indonesia and other countries, increased surveillance exercise. So it's a little bit similar to that - to make sure that we are as ready as we possibly can be if we do get that H5 strain arriving in Australia. Australia is now the only continent in the world that doesn't have the H5 strain. So it does make sense for us to be ready. Obviously, we will do everything we possibly can to keep it out. But as I say, it's a little bit difficult when it would be brought in by migratory birds. And, yeah, it's really about being as well prepared as we can be.

ANGUS VERLEY: And recently, quite a lot of experts in this field have essentially said that this is not a case of ‘if’, but ‘when’. Is that the assumption you're working on, that this H5 strain is going to come here?

MURRAY WATT: Look, I'd certainly like to think that we can continue to avoid it here in Australia, as I say, given that we are now the only continent that doesn't have that H5 strain coming in, and we always do see an influx of migratory birds into Australia in our springtime. They like to come to the southern end with the warmer weather that we enjoy in the second half of our year. So that's why we're taking action now. We don't want to look back and wish that we'd done more if it were to get here. There's no guarantees in these things that we can completely avoid this or any other kind of exotic disease. But what we can do is invest the money required to make sure that we're as well prepared as we can be if it were to arrive here.

ANGUS VERLEY: Big picture and long term, there is a push for the poultry industry to move to more free-range production, which does increase interactions between farmed chickens and wild birds. Are you looking at that as a potential area to address reducing those interactions?

MURRAY WATT: That is certainly one of the challenges that we have, because consumers are more and more moving towards free-range eggs in terms of the choices that they make and we're obviously seeing the industry move down that path in response to consumer demand. So this is an area that we are continuing to do some work with the States on. How can we support that transition in the direction that consumers and farmers are wanting to go, while, of course, making sure that we preserve strong biosecurity standards? It is a challenge, but biosecurity throws up a lot of challenges at times. And that's why we always try and work as cooperatively as we can with the States and with industry.

ANGUS VERLEY: While I have you, Minister, there are some numbers out today from Meat and Livestock Australia showing essentially a survey of sheep producer sentiment. And it's showing that, particularly in Western Australia, sentiment's very low. And also, there's a forecast reduction in ewe numbers in that state of 27 per cent. A lot of farmers in that survey have cited the reason for their planned reduction and their negative sentiment being the live ex phase-out. What would you say to that?

MURRAY WATT: Yeah, look, I haven't seen those survey figures myself, but I'll certainly take a good look at them. I'm not surprised that we are seeing a fall in sentiment, particularly in WA. And, of course, a lot of that is seasonal conditions that people have gone through. You know, I recognise - and have always recognised - that the sheep industry in WA, isn't particularly happy with our policy to phase out live exports in favour of more onshore processing. But I think we do need to recognise there's some other factors at play here, particularly in WA. Until recently, people were going through drought conditions and that was really affecting confidence in the industry.

ANGUS VERLEY: And the big issue or area of concern that farmers talk about is lack of processing capacity, because if those sheep are processed here rather than sent offshore live and the capacity isn't there, well, that equation doesn't add up.

MURRAY WATT: Yeah, that's definitely something that we need to work on and it's something that we've identified through our transition package that we want to support. I've obviously had many conversations with processors, both in WA and on the east coast, around how we can do this. Really what they tell us is that they're not so concerned about needing more abattoir space - they've got plenty of that. But what they do need is labour, and that's something we'll need to work on. Also looking for investment from government in things like cold storage and feedlots, to even out the flow of sheep through processing over the course of a year. That's exactly the kind of thing that we're prepared to invest in through our transition package

But, you know, I do think we need to keep it in perspective as well. I mean, the number of sheep that we're talking about that are currently exported live from WA, it's less than 15 per cent of the sheep that are raised in WA every year. One of the big processors made the point that really, the number of sheep being exported live from WA works out to about the same as what we process in Australia in about five or six days. So, we're not talking about, you know, a massive increase to the amount that need to be processed. But again, one of the reasons that we've decided to make this a four-year transition is that we recognise that it will take time. You know, there are people out there who want us to shut this industry down straight away. And we've said we won't do that because we need time to transition and we really want to work with farmers, the whole supply chain and processors to make this work.

ANGUS VERLEY: That was Federal Agriculture Minister Murray Watt speaking initially about the $7 million funding package to try and keep that H5 strain of avian influenza out of the country. And then also I put some questions to him about those MLA results showing a big decline in the ewe flock expected.