The Albanese Government’s $20 million to help Australia’s wildlife survive the escalating bird flu crisis is a deeply unserious response to the seriousness of the problem.
This is less than the government was spending on wildlife resilience before bird flu even arrived, roughly equivalent to the $17 million it has just cut from the Saving Native Species program, and just 0.8 per cent of its $2.5 billion support package for the Tomago aluminium smelter.
While today’s announcement includes $125 million for biosecurity and emergency response measures such as surveillance, testing and carcass removal, just $20 million will go towards building the resilience of wildlife populations facing what could become the worst wildlife disease outbreak in living memory.
The Invasive Species Council said the Albanese Government has badly underestimated the investment needed to protect Australia’s wildlife, with urgent funding needed for feral predator control, habitat protection and other practical measures that can give vulnerable populations the best chance of surviving and recovering from H5 bird flu.
‘Twenty million dollars for wildlife resilience in the face of a wildlife disease that puts almost one in five of our native mammals and birds at high risk of severe population decline is deeply unserious,’ Jack Gough, CEO of Invasive Species Council, said.
‘This $20 million is less than the $47 million the government spent on wildlife resilience in the two years before H5 bird flu even arrived in Australia. It is basically just a replacement for the $17 million year-on-year cut made in this year’s federal budget to the Saving Native Species program.
‘And at the same time, the federal government has found $2.5 billion to bail out the Tomago aluminium smelter. Right now nature needs a bail out but the government couldn’t even find one per cent of that investment.’
‘The government’s own risk assessment shows almost one in five Australian bird and mammal species assessed are at high, very high or extreme risk from bird flu. Species from our critically endangered orange-bellied parrots to common and iconic wildlife like black swans could suffer devastating population declines.
‘The government has known these risks and to still fail to put the measures in place to properly protect our wildlife is shameful.
‘The $200 million Wildlife Resilience Fund we’ve been calling for was always the floor – the minimum immediate investment needed to give our wildlife a fighting chance. The reality is we will need much greater, sustained investment over the long term to help wildlife populations recover.
‘There is a huge difference between responding to bird flu and making sure our wildlife can survive it. Surveillance, testing and carcass removal are essential, but they won’t stop vulnerable wildlife populations being pushed towards extinction.
‘We cannot stop bird flu moving through wild populations. What we can do is control feral cats and foxes, protect critical habitat and breeding sites and take other pressures off vulnerable species so their populations are strong enough to recover.
‘What we see at the moment is only the tip of the iceberg of what’s coming. The government is going to be forced to do more but they are going to be playing catch-up.’
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