Andrew Hoggard: Biosecurity Minister on the first case of H5N1 bird flu found in New Zealand, efforts to mitigate the impact
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How was H5N1 first detected on Petone Beach and what immediate evidence was found?
So bird flu's arrived, we've got the H5 strain detected in a seabird for Tony Beach. No evidence had spread at this point to Poultry or beyond. Andrew Hoggard is the Minister of Biosecurity and in charge of it all. He's with us morning. Good morning, Mike. So I've been watching this over the last couple of weeks in Australia. The dead bird turns up in WA. I'm thinking this will move west to east and sure enough, eventually to us. That's how it's happened. Have we been able to do anything or is this just a fait accompli?
A fait accompli. We've been saying for a while this is a when, not if story. Um, you know, we can't do anything to stop migratory birds showing up on the shorelines and, uh, every way with the last sort of country in the world to get this disease. And now we've got it.
So what do we do now? Nothing.
Uh, well, we keep monitoring, uh, we've been doing a hell of a lot of preparation work with the poultry sector to make sure that they're able to keep their flocks secure as it were, and, um, prevent the disease from getting into their barns. There's been study tours over to the States and other places, or sorry, the UK and other places. understanding how their farmers over there live with it.
Could bird flu have been prevented from reaching New Zealand and what does 'a when not if' mean?
And so our guys have had some good preparation and time to get systems in place to make sure they're prepared.
Glad to hear that because that's exactly what the Australians said. In other words, there is no excuse for this going pear-shaped. We are doing all we humanly can.
Yep, pretty much. And we will be, you know, the key thing is people keep reporting in if they see dead birds on the shoreline. It helps us build a picture of where it is and particularly if it starts moving into our domestic wildlife, then we're able to sort of track where it is and make sure that those poultry farmers are as prepared as they possibly can be.
Poultry aside, is there anything we're going to do if it reaches the hinterland and some of the native species and all that sort of stuff? Are we worried about that? Is there anything we can do about that? Is it here forever?
Look, it's likely here forever or until the disease dies out of its own accord. But I don't know if that will happen. The DOC have been vaccinating some critical breeding populations and making sure that they're safe and secure. So if it was to hit some of those breeding populations, populations, then they're pretty well safe.
I've already got the conspiratorial text this morning telling me to wake up. It's a pandemic. Wake up, as they say. So do I need to wake up, Andrew, or not?
No, more people need to spend time off Facebook, quite frankly.
What preparations have been made with poultry farmers to prevent outbreaks in domestic flocks?
No, we don't want to control you. There will be no podium of truth. There won't be QR codes. There won't be mandatory lockdowns. Keep calm and carry on, basically. Good on you. Nice to talk, Biosecurity Minister Andrew Hoggart.
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Chapters
3 chapters
1
How was H5N1 first detected on Petone Beach and what immediate evidence was found?
0:00–1:02
2
Could bird flu have been prevented from reaching New Zealand and what does 'a when not if' mean?
1:02–2:30
3
What preparations have been made with poultry farmers to prevent outbreaks in domestic flocks?
2:30–2:51
Speakers
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