QUESTIONS WITHOUT NOTICE

Senator HANSON-YOUNG (South Australia—Manager of Australian Greens Business in the Senate) (14:26): My question is to the Minister for the Environment and Water, Senator Watt. Australia has had its first confirmed cases of H5N1 bird flu, a disease that has devastated wildlife populations overseas and will not be able to be eradicated once it takes hold in Australia.

It puts endangered species—such as the black swan, the black cockatoo and the sea lion—at even greater risk of extinction. Will the government back calls from experts and conservation groups for a $200 million two-year boost to wildlife resilience, coastal habitat protection and an invasive species control program?