Dr. Tiggy Grillo

So states like South Australia, Victoria, Tasmania will all be putting out the same alert to their key stakeholders and others that they know will be out walking beaches and so forth to keep a lookout.

There's an expert advisory group that's got some of the world-renowned experts on avian influenza in wildlife here that live in Australia.

And we've been all working together for a very long time.

So that's a real benefit to Australia to have had that.

It doesn't account for all the scenarios that we had that could potentially have unraveled.

And this is one of those scenarios.

So obviously we need to work with what we've been given.

So Wildlife Health Australia is actually a key agency that works very closely with the national government.

I got an alert direct from government agencies that I might need to attend a meeting.

So, yeah, very concerning when I got the call and knowing what meeting I'd be going to.

And the events happened very quickly.

There was a very quick subsequent testing and confirmation with the news agency.

It's really concerning for Australia's wildlife and we really hope that perhaps it might not, you know, have onward spread.

Yeah, thank you very much, Jonathan, for having me.

And let's hope for the best with this one.

But if not, and ensuring the message is out there for people to be aware, I'll say it again, avoid the birds.

Please don't touch them, but please report them.

And to help you do that, we advise you to record them as well.

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