Bob Katter (Kennedy, Independent) Share this | Hansard source

I have a question without notice to the Minister for Health and Ageing. Is the minister aware that bats carry lyssavirus, leptospirosis, salmonella, SARS and hendra virus and that of the six people in Australia who contracted hendra virus four have died, which is nearly a 70 per cent death rate? Four people in Queensland now await their fates. Is the minister also aware that, between February and December, of 119 bats tested 16 tested positive for lyssavirus? The Queensland health information bulletin says: ‘It is a rabies-like virus that is probably always fatal.’ Finally, is the minister aware of the CSIRO report by Dr Eaton and Dr Linfa Wang that nipah virus was a mutation of hendra virus and that out of 260 infected people in Malaysia 106 died? Dr Lau described the SARS outbreak that devastated southern China as: ‘Demonstrating that bats are now known to be reservoir hosts of nipah, hendra, ebola, marburg and rabies.’ In light of this, could the minister advise what action she will be taking to head off a nipah or similar virus-like outbreak in Queensland and Northern Australia? This would be in light of the rising mass civil action which puts the lives of people, families and loved ones ahead of an invasion by this species into the growing urban environment, which is never their territory.

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