Australia has recorded its first suspected case of bird flu on the mainland, with a single migratory wild bird testing positive in Western Australia for a strain that authorities fear could be the deadly H5N1 virus responsible for millions of animal deaths worldwide.
Agriculture Minister Julie Collins confirmed the detection but said it was too early to confirm whether the bird was carrying the concerning H5N1 strain, with further test results expected on Saturday. Mainland Australia remains the only continent yet to detect the killer strain, making the suspected case a significant moment for the country’s biosecurity authorities.
“There is no evidence of any mass mortality at this time, nor is there any evidence of infection in poultry,” Collins said. “If it is confirmed to be the H5 bird flu, this will be sobering, but not unexpected, given the spread globally.”
The strain was first detected on Australian territory in October, on the remote World Heritage-listed Heard Island, around 4,000km southwest of Perth. The impact there was devastating: scientists who visited the island estimated 13,359 southern elephant seal pups had died from the disease, out of a total population of 17,364 — more than three-quarters of the entire pup population.
Collins said the virus’s eventual arrival on the mainland had always been considered inevitable, and that the government had prepared accordingly. She sought to downplay fears of devastating consequences for Australian farmers, who are already under significant pressure following the fuel crisis triggered by conflict in the Middle East. “This is a single bird, a suspected case and we are as prepared as any country can be,” she said. “We have invested early, as we said we would, and those investments are now showing provision. If this is detected as a case, we will have gotten there early.”
Collins added that the risk to human health from the suspected case would be exceptionally small. State and territory representatives, along with industry experts, are meeting on Friday afternoon to discuss contingency planning in response to the detection.
