Huntsman spider interrupts Australian Covid briefing by crawling onto health minister

‘Well, that was a moment, wasn’t it? We’ve got Covid and we’ve got spiders’

An unexpected guest interrupted the Queensland health minister’s press conference on Thursday when she was speaking about the pandemic restrictions and vaccine mandates in the Australian state.

Yvette D’Ath was speaking to reporters on the need for business entities to comply with Covid-19 vaccine orders when she noticed a huge huntsman spider had crawled onto her leg.

A video of the incident shows her stopping mid-sentence and saying: “Okay, can somebody please get that spider off?” while trying to maintain her composure.

As chief health officer Dr John Gerrard stepped in to lead the spider away, Ms D’Ath joked that this showed “how controlled she can be”.

“I don’t like huntsmans, but I’m going to keep going and pretend I don’t have a huntsman on me right now and let someone else manage this,” the minister said. “But if it gets anywhere near my face, please let me know.”

Eventually, the spider scurried away and the cameras panned to show it crawling to a different spot. The spider had earlier been captured near the minister’s podium.

After it went away, the minister resumed her press conference. “Well, that was a moment, wasn’t it? We’ve got Covid and we’ve got huntsmans,” she said.

She later shared a video of the incident and wrote: “Update - No spiders were harmed during the press conference.”

Twitter users praised the minister’s response in the comments section, calling her reaction impressive.

“Amazing composure under pressure. Same way you have calmly steered the health services through the turbulent Covid times. Good on you. Thank you,” said one user.

Another wrote: “You did so well to keep your cool and carry on the presser, I’d have lost it.”