QUESTIONS WITHOUT NOTICE

Senator McCARTHY (Northern Territory—Minister for Indigenous Australians) (15:06): These detections show that our preparedness investments are working as intended. We said H5 bird flu was not a question of 'if', but 'when'. We acted on that assessment.

In 2024 we established a dedicated whole-of-government taskforce across agriculture, environment, health and emergency management. We have run six national simulation exercises so that every jurisdiction knew their responsibilities before a single case was confirmed. Cost-sharing arrangements and governance frameworks were established and tested.

Surveillance systems are now functioning as designed. Our $113 million investment has strengthened frontline capacity in every state and territory. This is what over $2 billion in biosecurity investment since coming to government looks like in practice.