Interview with James Glenday, ABC News Breakfast

Senator Murray Watt. Murray, welcome back to our program. MURRAY WATT, MINISTER FOR THE ENVIRONMENT AND WATER: G'day, James.

Good to be with you. JAMES GLENDAY: Can we just start with bird flu, first of all? We've seen the first cases of the virus in a mammal.

What's that likely to mean for Australia's seal and sea lion populations, do you think? MURRAY WATT: Yeah, James, this is obviously a very serious development that we now have seen this strain of bird flu spread to a seal, so the first time in Australia we've seen it spread to a mammal. It is not unexpected.

You might remember for several weeks now my colleague Julie Collins and I have been warning that we are likely to see this kind of thing occur and indeed that we are likely to see more mass mortalities, which is obviously a terrible thing for all Australians who love our nature. But what I can also say is it's something that we have been preparing for for some time.

Our government has invested about $113 million in preparedness for bird flu, and since we've seen it come to Australian shores there's been another $24 million activated. And some of that funding has actually gone towards building up the resilience of populations of seals and sea lions by, for example, injecting baby seals and treating them for hookworm, which kills a lot of baby seals.

So those kinds of things, what we've been doing over the last couple of years, is about trying to build up larger populations of these mammals so that if we do have bird flu come and if it does kill some of them, we still have resilient populations for the future. JAMES GLENDAY: Just on that, though, we saw about 75 per cent of seal pups die on Heard Island when this bird flu arrived there.

Is that the sort of mortality we're going to be looking at in our major seal and sea lion colonies around the country? MURRAY WATT: Yeah, look, I couldn't put a percentage on it, James, but as I say, we have been saying for some time that we are likely to see mass mortalities of birds and mammals. And I know that is a very distressing thing for Australians to hear, but we also need to be realistic.

This is what we've seen happen overseas. Australia is very fortunate that we've been the last continent on earth to have this strain of bird flu happen, but we are likely to see those kind of events as we have overseas. But as I say, we have been preparing for this for some time, working with states and territories, conservation groups to make sure that our populations are resilient.

And I can assure your viewers that we will continue to do everything we can to ensure that these beautiful creatures are with us for a long time to come. JAMES GLENDAY: Last hour we had BirdLife Australia on the program. They were saying that your government's not doing enough.

We've heard similar things from the Invasive Species Council as well. What is going to be required in the coming months as birds come together and breed throughout the spring, spreading this virus? A lot of them are going to die in our wetlands, on our beaches, right?

Like, what needs to be done to make sure that that can be cleaned up as quickly as possible? MURRAY WATT: Yeah, a couple of things there, James. I would make the point that we have increased our funding since bird flu came to our shores, and that indicates that our government along with states and territories is prepared to keep investing more as the situation escalates.

And again, let's not forget the significant sums that they have been invested to date. In terms of clean-up of carcasses, it's being managed by different states and territories in their own ways. We are providing funding to some states and territories to assist with that clean up.

In some cases, the biosecurity advice is that it is safer to leave dead animals where they are, but where it is appropriate to do so to do that clean-up, that work is happening in many parts of the country as well. JAMES GLENDAY: Four Corners is digging into the world of lobbyists at Parliament House. Do Australians deserve more information about the sorts of people who meet with you and why?

MURRAY WATT: Well, James, I have seen that story, and I think it's going to be on Four Corners tonight. We already have very strict lobbyist rules in place within government that regulate, for example, the activities of former politicians, former staffers, periods of time that they can't lobby and use information that they've been privy to. And of course, any lobbyist needs to be on the lobbyist register.

So there is a high degree of disclosure and transparency about that already. It is part of government that we do have people come and lobby us. Pretty much every meeting I have is about someone, whether it be a conservation group or a business, seeking assistance for government for something, but that disclosure regime is in place and it's important that it is.

JAMES GLENDAY: A lot of even some independent MPs have been sounding the alarm about this, about how easy it is for lobbyists to get access to senior ministers. Do the laws need to be tougher? Would that restore some faith in public democracy?

Because at the moment, a lot of people think- they look at, say, the gambling laws that went through and think, what sort of things went on behind the scenes? MURRAY WATT: Well, it is the case that ministers from time to time meet with lobbyists just as we meet with non-government organisations, charities, business groups. That is part of the role of ministers is to listen to different groups in society.

We meet with individual members of the community almost every day to hear their views as well. It is important that we hear a different cross-section of views, but it is also important that we have strong rules around lobbyists, which we do, in terms of those limitations about when people can become lobbyists, the information they can use and the disclosure of the fact that they are a registered lobbyist.

So we believe that we've got a strong code of ethics around that. And again, I make the point that lobbyists are far from the only people that ministers meet with. JAMES GLENDAY: Just in the Riverina, Murray, your government has been intervening in a few different sectors to make sure that people don't lose their jobs, to make sure that Australia has manufacturing capacity, industrial capacity.

Obviously Riverina's home to a big rice growing community. Are you close to a bailout deal with SunRice to save jobs there? MURRAY WATT: Yeah, well, the first point I'd make, James, is that the Albanese Government wants to do everything we can to protect jobs and create jobs wherever they are across the country.

We have been meeting with SunRice for some time about the situation there, just as we've been meeting with the union that represents those workers, the New South Wales government, and rice grower groups as well about the situation that is being faced there. I can confirm that we have advised SunRice that we are prepared to co-invest with them in new investment in a rice processing plant that would be about manufacturing rice cakes.

SunRice have indicated that that investment along with their own would protect jobs that already exist and potentially create more as well. We haven’t put a figure on that yet- JAMES GLENDAY: How much money are we talking here? Because obviously this is taxpayer money at a time we're in a lot of debt.

Are we talking $10 million, more than that, 15? MURRAY WATT: Yeah, well we haven't put a figure on that yet, James. SunRice have sought $15 million that they would match with their own funds.

We haven't put a figure on that, and what we've said to them is that we do need to see a formal written proposal that sets out the funding that would be required, the jobs that would be protected and created, and we'll make a decision from there. But we have said that we are prepared to co-invest with them. JAMES GLENDAY: Environment Minister Murray Watt, we always appreciate you joining our show.

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.