Australia commits $64 million to protect against looming bird flu threat

SYDNEY (Reuters) - Australia's government said on Sunday it would spend an extra A$95 million ($64.13 million) to protect against a destructive bird flu strain that has spread through bird and mammal populations worldwide but not yet reached the island continent.

Oceania is the last region of the world free of the H5N1 clade 2.3.4.4b avian influenza that has killed hundreds of millions of birds and tens of thousands of mammals since appearing in Asia, Europe and Africa in 2020, littering beaches with corpses and upending the agricultural industry. 

Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry Minister Julie Collins said the new funding was additional to more than A$1 billion being spent to bolster the country's biosecurity.

“This strain of avian influenza presents a real and significant threat to Australia’s agriculture sector," Collins said in a statement.

While the region is somewhat protected by its geography - it is off the migration routes of big birds such as geese that spread infection - the virus is close, having reached Indonesia in 2022 and Antarctica last year.

Scientists and officials say there is a higher risk of it arriving in Australia with smaller migratory shore birds in the Southern Hemisphere spring, from September to November.

Earlier this year, Australia dealt with three parallel outbreaks of bird flu but each involved a different strain of the virus, none of which was the H5N1 type.

"Impacts experienced this year from outbreaks of other strains of high pathogenicity avian influenza highlight the importance of continued investment in national preparedness," Collins said.

($1 = 1.4815 Australian dollars)

(Reporting by Sam McKeith in Sydney; Editing by Michael Perry)