Interview with James Glenday, ABC News Breakfast

JAMES GLENDAY, HOST: Now, Australia's response to a potentially disastrous bird flu outbreak is ratcheting up today. Authorities in Western Australia have received 16 separate reports of sick or dead birds from the public since the deadly H5 variant of the disease was found on the Australian mainland on Friday. Across the border, the South Australian Premier will hold talks with his Government today.

EMMA REBELLATO, HOST: H5 bird flu has killed millions of birds and mammals across the world, and the Federal Government has spent than $100 million preparing for its arrival in Australia. JAMES GLENDAY: The Environment Minister, Murray Watt, joins us now from Canberra. Minister, welcome back to our program.

MURRAY WATT, MINISTER FOR THE ENVIRONMENT AND WATER: Hi, James. Good to be with you. JAMES GLENDAY: This has been expected for a really long time, of course, this strain has spread right around the globe.

Do you know how widespread the outbreak in WA is? MURRAY WATT: You're right, James. This is not an unexpected development, as disappointing as it is.

We are the only continent in the world that has not yet had this most deadly strain of bird flu. And that's why for the last two years, we've been intensively preparing for this to make sure that we've got our systems in place. In terms of the geographic spread, it's important to remember that at this point, we only have one officially confirmed case of the deadly strain, and that involved a bird that was found around Esperance on the southern coast of Western Australia.

Of course, there is a second bird that looks like it has tested positive but we're waiting for official confirmation of that to come through. There's no evidence at this point in time of any more widespread outbreak. I am aware there have been reports of other dead birds, particularly around Western Australia, but it's unclear whether that's related to bird flu or the many other reasons that birds die every single day.

It's a really good thing, though, that the public are reporting these things. It is what we want people to do - to report any suspicious deaths, particularly of birds or mammals. But at this point, there's no need for alarm that this has become a more widespread incident beyond those two birds.

JAMES GLENDAY: Once this has gained a foothold, though, in a country, in a continent, it has seemed to spread elsewhere. Is there a specific species that you are most worried about with this outbreak? MURRAY WATT: There's no doubt, James, that if we were to have a widespread outbreak of this deadly strain, that would have a very significant impact on wildlife in Australia.

Can I just make the point as well that, again, there's no evidence at all that this has affected poultry stocks in Australia. It's a wildlife matter at this point in time. In terms of the species, as I say, we know that bird flu can not only impact on birds, but also mammals as well.

That catches a lot of people by surprise, given the name of this virus. And really, the ones that we're most concerned about are our most endangered species, whether it be particular types of birds, the Australian sea lion, which is an endangered species and could catch bird flu as well. And that's why over the last couple of years we've been injecting a lot of new funding, $113 million all up, including $11 million in the most recent Budget, to really target those most at-risk species to make sure that they're here forevermore.

For example, over the last year or so, I've visited a number of zoos and other institutions where we have funded enclosures to separate birds from getting into enclosures where we might have sea lions and other species. We've injected a lot of money in captive breeding programs to breed up more numbers of these endangered species. And even some of our efforts to remove feral pigs and other feral animals across the country will have an effect because it makes it more possible for those endangered species to rebuild their populations so that if we did have an event like this, they'd be much more resilient.

JAMES GLENDAY: And just one more on this if you don't mind, Minister, what sort of work has been done to protect farms? Because I know there'll be some people watching this morning worried about what it could mean for poultry stocks if there is a big outbreak. MURRAY WATT: Yeah, so fortunately the cases that we've had had reported so far in southern Western Australia are hundreds of kilometres away from the nearest poultry farm.

That's obviously a good thing. But we've been working very closely with industry since Friday as a government. Obviously, my colleague Julie Collins, the Agriculture Minister has been leading this effort.

She in particular has been in regular contact with the chicken meat industry, the egg industry. Over the weekend we've had a number of different meetings happening with different stakeholders, scientists, states and territories, just to make sure that everyone is on the same page. As I say, I can emphasise that we are as well prepared as we possibly could be for this but it is a risk that we need to take seriously.

JAMES GLENDAY: Just on another issue, Minister, and this is outside your portfolio, auction clearance rates have plummeted and that suggests that house prices could drop in the coming months. Did your Government hope this would happen when you handed down the Budget? MURRAY WATT: Well, as you know, James, allowing young Australians in particular to get into the housing market for the first time was the central focus of our Budget and that's why we put forward those changes around both negative gearing and capital gains tax.

We're not surprised to see some level of cooling in auction markets, and if that makes it more possible for Australians to get into the housing market for the first time, that's a good thing, James. So our modelling from Treasury did suggest that there may well be a short-term impact in housing prices, but that they would continue to grow over time. But if we can get to a point where housing is not growing at the exponential rate that it has been, that will allow more people to have their first home, and that's a good thing for Australia.

JAMES GLENDAY: So you'd like to see house prices lower by the end of the year, by a few per cent potentially? MURRAY WATT: Look, I'm not going to put a percentage or a timeframe on it, James, but as I say, our Treasury modelling indicated that we were likely to see some short-term impacts on housing prices, but that they would continue to grow over time. You know, it has- you know as well as I do that it's been impossible for Australians to get into the housing market with the competition that's been coming in from investors, driving prices up and up and up to a point that it's been unsustainable.

So we had to do something about that. Of course, you know, we're investing enormous amounts of money also to build up the supply of new housing, but we also had to do something on the demand side as well. JAMES GLENDAY: Just finally Minister, the cut to the fuel excise is going to be gradually phased back in over the next month.

Now, as you've made that announcement, ceasefire talks don't seem to be going especially well between the US and Iran again, with Donald Trump yet again saying, ‘oh, well, we might have to go back to bombing at some point’. If this ceasefire deal doesn't hold, is this something that you might review, or do you think this is basically set and forget - this is what's happening, the fuel excise is coming back?

MURRAY WATT: Well, the Prime Minister said yesterday in some interviews, James, that, of course, our Government responds to whatever circumstances face Australians, but we are certainly very hopeful that a long-term ceasefire can be settled through these negotiations. You know, from our part, we're encouraging those negotiations to continue and de-escalating the conflict.

We want to see tankers be able to get through the Strait of Hormuz much more easily than they have been. You know, but for the moment and you know, until circumstances change, we think that the change that we've announced about the fuel excise rate is the way to go. JAMES GLENDAY: Murray Watt, thank you for your time this morning.

MURRAY WATT: Thanks James. We acknowledge the Traditional Owners of country throughout Australia and recognise their continuing connection to land, waters and culture. We pay our respects to their Elders past, present and emerging.