00:02Good morning, Gemma. Yes, here at St Kilda there are about 1,400 little penguins just
00:08in a colony at the end of the jetty behind me. And Earthcare Australia is the conservation
00:13group that cares for these penguins and it says that it's really concerned that this
00:19colony could be decimated as a result of bird flu. Also, 40,000 penguins on Phillip Island
00:27as well. And they say that the actual window for any sort of vaccination is now well and
00:33truly closed because it would have had to have occurred before bird flu arrived in Australia.
00:39And of course now it has. And we have seen that mass death event in an island in South
00:46Australia's southeast coast, which has led to multiple deaths of greater crested terns.
00:53Now we've also, of course, among the 58 confirmed cases and another 48 suspected cases in South
01:00Australia have seen a confirmed case in the Coorong. Now that's a really important wetland
01:07and waterway area. And that's the real concern that both governments and experts have, that
01:12besides being along the coastal areas, they are expecting that the deadly H5 strain will
01:19start to head towards those waterways and inland areas and potentially also start to get towards
01:26our agricultural areas. Now, among those positive cases in South Australia are silver gulls or
01:34seagulls. And they're the ones that really are known colloquially as the super spreaders of
01:39this H5 strain because they travel not only along the coast, but also into the inland areas.
01:46And here in Victoria, we have now seven confirmed cases after another six confirmations yesterday.
01:53And we also have another cluster of deaths that's being investigated in Victoria's southwest.
02:00But earlier on News Breakfast, we heard from the Federal Agricultural Minister and she spoke
02:07about the concerns that all authorities have about the fact that this is now really quite
02:12unstoppable. This is what she had to say.
02:15We have been very upfront with the Australian public that we cannot stop this from spreading.
02:19What we can do is be as prepared as we possibly can. We do know that it is highly contagious
02:25and
02:25highly virulent. This could be a long period of time and a very long journey. We have seen other
02:30countries have been dealing with this since 2022.
02:36So that is Julie Collins, the Federal Agricultural Minister, speaking on News Breakfast a short time ago. And of course,
02:43there are also concerns for wildlife populations of mammals, including dolphins, also sea lions, as well other predators of birds
02:53that are going to potentially get infected by this H5 bird flu strain. Of course, we are very carefully watching
03:01what happens in the agricultural space. And at the moment, we are going to get infected by this H5 bird
03:03flu strain.
03:03And at the moment, there are no poultry or agricultural elements that are affected. However, Julie Collins says that there
03:10is an additional $24 million in state and federal government funding that is being enacted as part of the emergency
03:16management plan. That's specifically also going to target some of those poultry producers to make sure that they have their
03:24biosecurity plans as ready as possible. Also, the provision of clean water and food for their stock. And also ensuring
03:32that their birds,
03:33don't get the opportunity to mix with any wildlife to try to contain any of that spread. But clearly, it
03:41is so difficult given that we're talking about flying birds and the ability to contain this deadly strain. And we're
03:49hearing from experts that as those migratory birds continue to come from overseas in the coming months, it is going
03:56to be even harder to stop this strain.
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