‘Grim faces’: Inside SA’s bird flu response

InDaily columnist Mike Smithson was the only journalist invited into the state government’s Emergency Management Cabinet Committee. He takes you inside the bird flu war room and reveals what to expect.

It’s hard to see a smooth road ahead if H5 bird flu takes flight in South Australia, with no pun intended.

Events of last week made me sit up and take notice, in a way I haven’t experienced since the first days of Covid-19 back in 2020.

The grim faces sitting around the table of a hastily called Emergency Management Cabinet Committee explained plenty.

The Premier was flanked by his key political architects as well as the Deputy Police Commissioner, the Chief Public Health Officer and many others.

The only levity before the meeting started was the Premier welcoming a prominent media identity to the room for a brief television picture opportunity.

These occasions allow one media outlet into the top security cabinet room to film vision to share with all other networks.

I thought this was a nice personal touch from him, being the only journalist there.

But I was on the receiving end of his deliberate mirth when he then heaped praise on our cameraman, who is a media identity in his own right.

But that’s when the light-hearted stuff abruptly ended.

Peter Malinauskas then outlined a plan to stay ahead of a very steep curve combatting bird flu.

An hour later, he fronted a full media conference with news that it’s only a matter of time before SA could be invaded with the strain and potentially devastating consequences.

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