Control of infectious disease too 'piecemeal' Dr Richard Di Natale: "It is this state-by-state decision, there's no national decision made unless everyone agrees." Photo: Damian White Australia's response to superbugs and dangerous strains of flu could be controlled by a centre for disease control. Public health experts say Australians are at risk from the lack of central co-ordination of infectious disease outbreaks and a new body is urgently needed. The federal Greens will campaign for the establishment of an independent statutory centre for disease control. Australia is the only OECD country without one. Public Health Association of Australia chief executive Michael Moore said tension between the states and the commonwealth could put Australia at risk during a disease outbreak. "We don't know when the next pandemic will hit and having a centre for disease control would assist us no end in being prepared," he said. He said such a body should have the power to control state responses to infectious disease threats, with appropriate checks and balances. There's a reason why so many jurisdictions in the world have these sorts of organisations. When it comes to a pandemic, sometimes powerful legislation is needed," he said. Australasian Society for Infectious Diseases president David Looke said during the swine flu pandemic in 2009 some states refused to do testing deemed necessary in other parts of Australia. "I think what an Australian centre for disease control would do would be to set things up so that wouldn't happen," he said. Otherwise we may not realise things are happening until it's too late. Greens health spokesman Richard di Natale said disease control in Australia was piecemeal. "Because it is this state-by-state situation, there's no national decision made unless everyone agrees," he said. If we are in a national pandemic we could be in a situation where the states are acting differently. In June a senate inquiry he initiated found Australians were increasingly contracting drug-resistant superbugs during routine medical procedures, and recommendations from expert reviews from the late 1990s had never been implemented. Both it and a lower house report on infectious diseases travelling across borders recommended a federal agency deal with the problem.