Victoria will vaccinate 5000 penguins next week. It still hasn't said which other birds get a dose.
The state's list of priority native species is due in Canberra within days, and the opposition says regional Victoria has been left off it.
Victoria will vaccinate more than 5000 little penguins against H5 bird flu next week.
The doses landed at Phillip Island on Wednesday and are waiting on final regulatory approval.
Both colonies are visitor sites: the ticketed Penguin Parade, run by a state-owned park, and the St Kilda breakwater.
Penguins were picked because each bird needs two doses and little penguins come back to the same burrows every night.
The Nationals say that is not the only reason.
Shadow Minister for Agriculture and State Lowan MP Emma Kealy said the announcement covered two tourist drawcards and nothing else.
"Labor has found the time and the resources to protect penguins that pull in the tourists, but Victoria's threatened birds out in the regions don't even get a mention and free-range chickens remain in lockdown," Ms Kealy said.
Her example is the brolga, and the timing checks out.
The bird has been listed as endangered in Victoria under the Flora and Fauna Guarantee Act since 2021, with 200 to 250 breeding pairs left in the state.
They nest between July and December, which means they are on the nests now.
"Brolgas are breeding right now in western Victoria and there is still no word on any plan to protect them. If this Government can vaccinate penguins for visitors, it can tell regional Victorians what it's doing for the birds in their own backyard," Ms Kealy said.
Poultry is the other half of the complaint.
Since August 7, anyone with 50 or more birds in metropolitan Melbourne and along the coast has had to keep them inside for an initial 14 days.
Free-range producers can keep the label while their hens are shut in.
"Victorian free-range poultry producers are also struggling to comply with mandatory H5N1 housing orders, but the government just wants to talk penguins," she said.
What the release leaves out is what the vaccine can actually do.
Australia's chief veterinary officer Beth Cookson said this week the vaccines were built for poultry, and that broad-scale vaccination in the wild was not practical or feasible.
That is why the national rollout starts with zoos and managed collections, and why the Commonwealth has bought about 1500 vials for $2 million.
The penguins are the exception, not the template.
Minister for Environment Jaclyn Symes said the state could not stop the virus circulating in wild birds.
"Vaccination is one response measure, alongside strong biosecurity and surveillance, that can help manage the impact on our wildlife," Ms Symes said.
Every state and territory was asked days ago to send Canberra a list of the native species it wants vaccinated first.
Victoria has not published its list of priority species, and the Commonwealth is expecting it within days.