News South Wales has detected its first suspected case of H5 bird flu as another migratory bird in Western Australia has also tested positive.
Samples were taken from a giant petrel near Hawks Nest on the NSW Mid North Coast that tested positive for the strain of influenza in preliminary testing.
Another case of the infection is believed to have been identified in WA, with authorities confirming a suspected case in a dead giant petrel found near Mullaloo, in Perth’s north.
Samples from both animals have been sent to the CSIRO to confirm if it is the H5 high pathogenicity avian influenza, or bird flu, strain.
NSW Agricultural Minister Tara Moriarty said the bird was wild and had flown in from “other parts of the world”, identified by a member of public who noticed it was ill.
“We don’t know yet it if it is the worst strain of the virus,” she said.
Samples from the bird at NSW’s Bennetts Beach have been sent to the national testing lab in Geelong to determine the strain, after being assessed by vets and testing positive to H5 at an agricultural institute in Sydney’s Camden.
“We expect to have the results of that at some point tomorrow,” Ms Moriarty said.
The NSW government said it marked the first wild migratory seabird in the state to return a suspected positive result.
It is urging anyone who sees unusual deaths or illness in wild birds to avoid contact, record videos and pictures, and report to the Emergency Animal Disease hotline on 1800 675 888.
Ms Moriarty says the commercial poultry industry has been informed. (ABC News: Alexander Lewis)
WA Agriculture Minister Jackie Jarvis said after the latest suspected case a team of fisheries officers would now “conduct increased beach patrols along the metropolitan coast” to assist with surveillance.
“There is no evidence of spread or large-scale deaths in local wildlife or any detections in poultry,” she said.
Testing in wetlands where waterfowl are known to gather will also be increased.
Other cases in Australia
The main symptoms are birds that look lethargic, showing respiratory signs of flu like watery eyes or difficulty breathing, or signs of paralysis and difficulty walking, NSW chief veterinary officer Jo Coombe said.
“It has had a devastating impact overseas. They have been species of birds affected and also over 50 species of mammals,” she said.
The first-known bird flu case in Australia was confirmed last month in a brown skua seabird at WA’s Cape Le Grand beach.
The bird was a sub-Antarctic species.
A giant petrel was found sick with bird flu in WA (bird pictured) last month. (Supplied: Lori-Ann Shibish/Esperance Wildlife Hospital and Sanctuary)
Since that case there have been four confirmed cases in WA and one in South Australia.
H5 strain of avian influenza, known as H5N1 2.3.4.4b, has spread quickly across the world through the movement of wild birds, causing mass mortality in poultry and sea mammals globally.
There is a vaccine available for the H5 bird flu strain, but Dr Coombe said so far, it is only available to “rare and endangered species”.
She said it could affect humans, but remained “very low risk to humans” with “common cold signs” and no human-to-human transmission.
Dr Coombe says the state has been preparing for the potential of an outbreak. (ABC News)
“This is one bird, a wild, migratory bird has been found,” Ms Moriarty said of NSW.
“There are no other birds that have been found to be positive of H5 at the moment [in the state] but we are now increasing our surveillance.”
She said it was a national problem and the state government would keep working with its federal counterparts to stay on top of.
‘No need to panic’
Ms Moriarty said the government had informed the commercial poultry industry, but at this stage, there was no spread there.
“We haven’t had any reports of the poultry industry being impacted,” she said, noting it was “ready for whatever scenario might emerge”.
“So there’s no need to panic, keep buying eggs, keep buying chicken.”
The numbers showing H5’s deadly rise
The state government said the risk to human health remained low.
Dr Coombe said giant petrels did not typically make contact with land “unless of course, they are sick”.
“We have been preparing for this event for several years, in fact since we had our H7 bird flu outbreak two years ago,” she said.
The next level of risk is the spread from vagrant, passing birds into the wild bird population, Dr Coombe said.
“We were very aware this was looming and Australia was the last continent to have not had H5 bird flu, so we’ve trained up many, many members of staff.”
There was no evidence of spread to any wild birds, Dr Coombes said.
“There have been no reports of mass mortality events that we have seen elsewhere in the world.”
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Press conference finishes
That’s all from Ms Collins on Australia’s bird flu situation.
For more information on this story, you can keep up to date via the ABC News website.
Fri 3 Jul 2026 at 1:24pm
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First two cases like flew to Australia with the disease
Ms Collins says CSIRO sequencing of two of the five confirmed cases shows those migratory birds likely flew to Australia with separate infections, rather than a spread among a flock.
“We are waiting on the further sequencing of other birds at this time,” she says.
Fri 3 Jul 2026 at 1:19pm
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Lessons learned from former H7 bird flu outbreaks
Ms Collins has reiterated that there’s no current evidence of bird flu impacting Australia’s poultry or egg systems – meaning there’s no need for shoppers to panic shop stock.
As for what happens if there is a confirmed case in a poultry system in the future, Ms Collins says.
“We’ve done everything we can do … to mitigate as much as we possibly can.
“We have learnt a lot from the H7 outbreaks that we have dealt with and successfully eradicated in Australia previously,” she says.
Ms Collins says if a H5 bird flu outbreak became worse, similar protocols would be followed to that of the H7 outbreak.
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