SYDNEY — Australia's government said on Sunday (Oct 13) it would spend an extra A$95 million (S$83.5 million) to protect against a destructive bird flu strain that has spread through bird and mammal populations worldwide but not yet reached the island continent.

Oceania is the last region of the world free of the H5N1 clade 2.3.4.4b avian influenza that has killed hundreds of millions of birds and tens of thousands of mammals since appearing in Asia, Europe and Africa in 2020, littering beaches with corpses and upending the agricultural industry.

Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry Minister Julie Collins said the new funding was additional to more than A$1 billion being spent to bolster the country's biosecurity.

“This strain of avian influenza presents a real and significant threat to Australia’s agriculture sector," Collins said in a statement.

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