The Victorian government’s response to the H5N1 bird flu outbreak has triggered intense public backlash, leading to growing community demands for rapid intervention, dedicated cleanup funding, and better wildlife protection to address what critics are calling a major biosecurity failure.

The crisis has intensified across South West Victoria, particularly in coastal towns like Portland and Nelson, where hundreds of dead or dying wild birds have washed ashore.

The Core Complaints Behind the Backlash

Failure to Clear Carcasses: Residents living along the Victoria–South Australia border have labeled the Victorian government's response "a scandal" compared to South Australia. While SA has deployed crews to actively collect infected carcasses, dead birds are piling up in Victoria's Glenelg Estuary.

Forced Volunteer Intervention: Due to the perceived lack of state action, the Victorian Wildlife Alliance was forced to step in, deploying teams to Portland to humanely euthanize dying birds and clear carcasses before scavengers could eat them and further spread the virus.

Defunding of Services: Shadow Minister for Agriculture Emma Kealy and local residents have publicly criticized cuts to agricultural and environmental departments, which they argue have left authorities completely underfunded and unprepared to
manage mass mortality events.

The Petition Issue:
Petitioners are deeply concerned by the Victorian Government’s lack of a centralized, proactive, and fully resourced strategy to safely manage and dispose of potentially infected wild bird carcasses on public and private land. Current instructions offload a significant portion of biosecurity disposal tasks onto everyday residents and localized authorities, relying heavily on standard household general waste systems (red-lidded bins). This decentralized approach risks exposing the public, domestic pets, and local wildlife to a severe pathogen, severely threatening Victorian biodiversity and public health safety lines. Leaving the public to manage potentially hazardous biological material without systematic department-led collection teams fails to reflect the urgency required to safely contain the virus.

Action Required:

The petitioners call on the Government to:

Establish a rapid-response, state-funded biosecurity task force specifically responsible for the swift containment, safe retrieval, and expert disposal of wild bird carcasses across all municipal lines.

Provide comprehensive logistical support and direct funding to municipal councils to ensure public lands remain monitored and cleared safely without overwhelming local general waste infrastructure.

Implement an aggressive public awareness campaign alongside direct assistance channels so regional and urban Victorians are not left to personally bag and handle highly pathogenic bio-waste on their properties.