Australia braces for potential avian flu spread, but egg shortages unlikely

The poultry industry is bracing for the spread of a deadly strain of avian influenza, but is confident the planning has been done to prevent any widespread egg shortages.

Two cases of the H5N1 variant of avian influenza have now been confirmed in migratory seabirds that washed up on a remote beach in Western Australia.

They are the first suspected Australian cases of a deadly strain of a virus that has killed millions of birds and mammals worldwide.

It is a different strain to the H7 bird flu, which spread through NSW, ACT and Victorian egg farms in 2024-25, forcing widespread quarantine measures and the culling of 1.8 million birds.

Egg supplies were severely disrupted at that time, but the managing director of Australian Eggs, Rowan McMonnies, said the H5 variant was not expected to have a similar impact.

"There is the prospect that if it does make it to parts of the west coast, but also to the east coast where there is considerable egg production, that we could face losses," he said.

"Unfortunately, you also see a bit of human behaviour in those instances, a bit of panic buying does impact availability.

Victorian free-range egg producer Boyd Carmody said he was not too concerned about the detection in WA at this stage.

"It's only in a couple of migratory birds so far that wouldn't normally come this way … except for the fact they've been sick and had to head to land," he said.

"The area that the first birds are located is fairly isolated, down there south of Esperance, and there's probably a fair separation before you get into any intensive poultry operations."

Mr Carmody said he had upgraded infrastructure at his farm in recent years in preparation for the arrival of the disease.

"Obviously, with us being outside in the great outdoors, there's the risk of migratory ducks and that sort of thing passing, but we're a long way off the migratory bird corridor here."

Industry-wide issue

Nearly half of the eggs sold in Australia are from free-range chickens.

They have access to outdoor areas, which puts them at greater risk of contact with infected animals.

But Mr McMonnies said, while free-range chickens on bigger farms that typically supply supermarkets have access to outdoor runs, they often prefer to spend time inside.

"The majority of the industry is intensive production and large-scale production … and there's high-quality shedding there."

"The birds are made comfortable, their feed and water is all contained within the shed, they will go out … but they also spend some considerable time in the shed as well."

Mr McMonnies said washing trucks with disinfectant upon arrival at a facility or farm would also reduce the risk of transporting the disease.

University of Queensland virologist Kirsty Short specialises in avian influenza and how it interacts with poultry and wildlife.

She said maintaining strong biosecurity measures was crucial, regardless of which farming method was being used.

"Without the appropriate biosecurity measures, birds that are outside and in contact with wild birds are at higher risk of infection," she said.

"But this all depends on a lot of things; it depends on what biosecurity measures you already have in place, it depends on what wild bird populations [avian flu gets into]."

Vets and government looking ahead

Federal, state and territory environment ministers met yesterday to be briefed by the chief veterinary officer and the threatened species commissioner on the outbreak.

"I feel confident that we've got the systems in place and that we're working cooperatively with states, territories and others to make sure that we can manage this outbreak if it does get more serious," federal Environment Minister Murray Watt said.

NSW Agriculture Minister Tara Moriarty said there was no need to change anything at the moment.

Meanwhile, the Australian Veterinary Association has called for an extra $7.5 million to increase the number of vets to help combat the spread of the H5 variant.

Australian Veterinary Association president Diana Barker said egg producers should have their response plans ready, even though the threat was still remote.

"At the moment, we are limited to those wild birds and I believe they're in remote areas, so at the moment the government is saying, 'Look, make sure your response is up to date, but you probably don't need to activate it just yet'," she said.