Are you getting any extra payment for dealing with wildlife or wild birds? Any extra equipment, advice, anything?

Beginning, nothing.

So the Victorian government has covered lab testing, so they're covering surveillance.

So if someone finds a dead bird and brings it into their vet, the government will give us $220 for the samples and the samples only.

That's not covering the PPE, which is required and recommended because obviously we know from overseas that there is a risk that humans will contract the disease.

So PPE is recommended.

We're not being covered for the euthanasia of the animals.

But why can't you fill these jobs in rural and regional Australia? What's going on?

Have you had any, I guess, feedback feedback or any information from the government as to why vet students have been left out? I mean, 52 weeks of prac, that's a lot of unpaid work that they're doing.

To be honest with you, we haven't had a huge amount.

We were in Canberra talking to ministers only a few weeks ago.

We had a lot of positive feedback for our inclusion, both from all parties and But as it turns out, this list comes out and we've been left off again.

So we fail to understand what it is that veterinarians aren't doing right, especially when we've been in workforce shortage for nine years.

and particularly in rural and regional areas in Australia.

So the idea being that supporting students to go out onto placement means that we can support them to go out into rural and regional areas rather than requiring... you know, needing to stay at home near their job to, you know, continue to have financial stability through their degree.

Is there a way, I guess, does it have to be like a government payment? Is there a way that clinics or vets could help pay some of these students and give them some paid work?

She spoke to Melissa Clarke.

We've still got the four cases, so three in WA, one in South Australia.

There is another one that is currently undergoing testing.

Thanks to the public and their reporting, they've had over 375 birds recorded, reported, and 45 of them had gone to sort of further investigation.

Of those 45, only the four have turned back the positive results.

So that's encouraging that it's not too widespread at the moment.

Is that sufficient at this stage, given we've got signs now that migratory birds are coming and there is a risk of much further ingress of this virus? Is relying on public reporting still the best way to go about keeping our eye on this?

Look, I think it's one of the key pieces in the government's response.

Mm-hmm

... um, especially since it is migratory birds.

These birds, um, are birds that are... would be doing their normal migration.

They're sick and unwell, and so they don't quite make where they're, um, supposed to be going.

Uh, and so we will s- often see sick or dead birds on our shores at this time of year, and it's just now that we've got this, um, added component of, um, H5 that we need to be aware of.

So the public reporting them and, and what we're saying is avoid, don't touch them, um, record where you are, and then report it to the, um, government.

The SA, I know, has a mobile rapid response team, so they're actually going out and, um, looking at the birds and the WA has a rapid response turnaround as well.

Mm.