Australia news live: shark attack victim thanks donors after ‘incredibly difficult’ recovery; second fur seal dies of suspected bird flu

Watt says fur seal death from H۵ bird flu ‘very serious’, but government prepared

Murray Watt, the environment minister, said the confirmed death of a fur seal, was a “very serious development”.

Watt spoke to ABC News Breakfast, saying the government had warned the H۵ strain of bird flu was likely to spread and more mass mortality events were likely, but officials have also been preparing for that eventuality. He said:

What we’ve been doing over the last couple of years is trying to build up larger populations of these mammals, so if we do have bird flu come, and it does kill some of them, we still have resilient populations for the future. …

I know it’s a distressing thing for Australians to hear but we need to be realistic. This is the sort of thing we have seen overseas. We’re very fortunate we’re the last continent to have the bird flu happen. But we’ve been preparing for this, for some time.

Watt said the government would continue to do “everything we can to ensure these beautiful creatures will be here for us for a long time to come”.

The nightly parade of penguins on Phillip Island is a tourist favourite, but has recently taken on a more serious tone, AAP reports.

As the little penguins toddled up the Victorian beach on Sunday night, many were corralled into pens to receive the first of two vaccinations against bird flu. The H۵ strain of bird flu first reached Australia’s shores in June and is already confirmed to have claimed the life of one of the penguins in the colony.

With case numbers on the rise, authorities have stepped in to do what they can to defend the ۵,۰۰۰-strong colony of little penguins living on Phillip Island, south-west of Melbourne.

The penguin’s nightly ritual of returning the same burrow, along the same path, made them ideal candidates for vaccination, said Phillip Island nature parks reserve manager Ben Thomas:

We started on some of the quieter penguin pathways to fine-tune the whole process and and get it working as quickly as we can, so we can process as many penguins as we can each night.

We’ve now moved to the western end of the penguin parade, where the larger numbers are, and it’s working really well.

A second long-nosed fur seal is suspected to have died in South Australia from H۵ bird flu, just a day after officials confirmed the first death of a mammal on the Australian mainland.

The South Australian government said the second fur seal death occurred offshore at the Pages conservation park. More than ۱,۰۰۰ dead crested terns were found across Troubridge Island and the Pages islands in recent weeks, with the latter a known breeding site for a colony of endangered Australian sea lions, with long-nosed fur seals known to visit the area.

Samples will be taken for confirmatory testing, with results expected in the coming days. The South Australian government maintained that there are no H۵ bird flu detections in poultry or livestock and the risk to humans remains low.

“South Australians are encouraged to continue being vigilant in reporting sick and dead birds and other wildlife,” the government said in a statement.

The National Reconstruction Fund will invest $۱۲۰m into a $۲۴۰m advanced manufacturing project north of Perth expected to be able to build ۲,۰۰۰ apartments a year once fully operational.

The announcement this morning also includes a $۲۰m grant from the Western Australian government and a $۱۰۰m equity investment from Wesfarmers, the owner of popular retail brands, including Kmart, Bunnings and Officeworks.

The Built Living project, which will begin before the end of the year, will be able to build residential apartments at scale through advanced manufacturing. The government says it will deliver apartments up to ۲۰% cheaper and up to ۵۰% faster than traditional construction.

The federal industry minister, Tim Ayres, said:

Australia needs to build more homes, but we also need to build more capability. This project brings advanced manufacturing into the housing supply chain, lifting productivity and helping deliver more homes for Australians.

Good morning. Nick Visser here to get the news going. Here’s what’s on deck:

Leah Stewart, the woman who was bitten by a shark at Sydney’s Coogee beach, issued a thankyou to those who supported her after the attack.

She wrote on GoFundMe: “After what has been an incredibly difficult few months, I’m so happy that I’ve progressed enough to build some independence, and I can finally see some light after all of this.”

Stewart was in an induced coma after the shark attack and had multiple surgeries, including the amputation of one of her arms.

Meanwhile authorities have begun vaccinating as many of Phillip Island’s little penguins as they can against the H۵ strain of bird flu. The island, south-west of Melbourne, has a ۵,۰۰۰-strong colony, which sees a nightly ritual of the penguins returning to the same burrow, along the same path, making them ideal candidates for vaccination. It comes a day after authorities revealed the death of a seal from the flu, the first confirmed mainland mammal fatality.

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