QUESTIONS WITHOUT NOTICE

Mr CHESTER (Gippsland—Deputy Leader of the National Party) (14:48): on indulgence—I thank the minister for her update. The coalition stands ready to support the government as it deals with the impact of the confirmed detection of the H5 avian influenza in wild birds in Western Australia. It is a serious development, and I thank the minister for her willingness to contact me over the weekend and for her office's preparedness to provide updates to the coalition on a regular basis.

We need to be very clear that this is a threat for which the Australian biosecurity system has been preparing for many years. While we do need to prepare for the worst, we are hoping for the best. We stand ready as a coalition to support the government, particularly with the potential risk to our poultry sector.

Although I emphasise the minister's point that these are wild birds that have been detected with the virus, we do need to do everything we possibly can to ensure that our $8 billion poultry industry and the 60,000 people who work in that supply chain are kept well informed in the coming days and weeks. I thank the minister for her update to the House.