Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, the Hon Julie Collins MP
Minister for Environment and Water, Senator the Hon Murray Watt
The Albanese Labor Government has delivered over $2 billion in additional funding to bolster Australia’s biosecurity system, and this One Health Day is reaffirming how this investment is helping to protect our agriculture industry, environment, communities, and economy.
One Health Day is a global initiative that recognises the connection of human, animal, plant and environmental health, and the importance of coordinated action to prevent, prepare for and respond to emerging health threats.
This connection has underpinned the Albanese Labor Government’s preparation and response to H5 bird flu in Australia, which is backed by an investment of more than $270 million.
Agencies across portfolios, industry and jurisdictions have collaborated for years to develop and strengthen Australia’s surveillance, preparedness and response capabilities.
This includes rolling out rapid response equipment to states and territories, delivering upgrades to zoos and wildlife facilities across the country to boost their biosecurity, and helping to improve the resilience of natural habitats and reduce threats to wildlife.
The Government also secured and rigorously trialled H5 bird flu vaccines, and delivered birdflu.gov.au, which includes a national detection dashboard.
More than 13,000 birds, including threatened orange-bellied parrots and black cockatoos, have now been identified for vaccination for H5 bird flu, and over 3,000 vaccines administered across the country – with this vaccine program understood to be the largest of its kind undertaken globally.
The Emergency Animal Disease Hotline has received more than 66,411 calls from the community, which continue to play a crucial part in this response effort, and over half a million views on birdflu.gov.au.
There have now been 732 H5 bird flu events in wildlife across Australia, with no detections yet in our agriculture or poultry system, and the risk to human health remaining low.
The response to H5 bird flu will continue being guided by a One Health approach, backed by coordinated action and strong collaboration.
Quotes attributable to Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, Julie Collins MP:
“One Health Day is an important opportunity to recognise the significant work we are undertaking with industry and states and territories to plan for and respond to biosecurity threats, including H5 bird flu.
“Our Government takes the threat of H5 bird flu seriously, which is why we’ve invested early, supported the work of our technical experts, and moved quickly once the virus reached our shores – backed by a One Health approach.
“We’ve invested over $2 billion in additional biosecurity resourcing to strengthen our surveillance, preparedness and response capability to not only H5 bird flu, but other biosecurity threats.
“Biosecurity is a shared responsibility, which is why we’ll continue working with governments, industry and communities to help reduce the impacts of biosecurity threats on our agriculture industry, environment and economy.”
Quotes attributable to Minister for Environment and Water, Murray Watt:
“This One Health Day, it’s important that we acknowledge collective efforts across Australia to protect and restore critical habitat and support healthy wildlife populations of our beloved native, and particularly, threatened species.
“The Albanese Government has invested over $270 million, which includes $67 million to accelerate protective action for biodiversity, to strengthen our preparedness and response to H5 bird flu.
“Thanks to the tireless work of governments, industry, conservation partners and communities to help our native wildlife face this threat and give our at-risk species the best chance of withstanding and recovering from the impacts of this disease.”
