00:0014 identified incidents of bird flu in New South Wales, a couple of cases of birds impacted on
00:08the south coast, but there hasn't been mass events. We haven't seen mass casualties of birds
00:15at this stage. So we are continuing our preparation work across New South Wales and that includes for
00:22wild birds, but particularly also for the poultry industry across New South Wales,
00:28which is incredibly important for food supply, but also as an industry here in New South Wales.
00:34We are the biggest chicken meat and egg producers in the country. We don't have a vaccine at this
00:41stage that's approved for use for the poultry industry, but we're working closely with the
00:46federal government on ensuring that they are escalating work to identify options that could
00:53be available to protect the poultry industry. Today I want to send a message to people who
01:00have backyard chickens and pet birds across New South Wales. They are of course at high risk now
01:07that we do have bird flu and the strain of the flu in New South Wales. So we're asking people
01:13to be
01:14prepared and to take care of their backyard chickens and pet birds by ensuring that you've got protections
01:22in place for those animals where there is a risk that they can interact with wild birds or that wild
01:31birds
01:31can be near your property. When someone calls the hotline and the number just to remind you is
01:361-800-675-888. Basically there's a triage system so you know of course some calls may not be likely
01:45to be
01:45high risk for bird flu and so the hotline operators will essentially work through a triage with the
01:53caller and then if it's determined that it needs to be an investigation then they'll call that through
02:00and essentially someone will be deployed to typically go and sample the bird be it a sick bird or a
02:08dead bird
02:08and then obviously that that's sent on to the laboratory and we get the results from there.
