and Tymoviridae was generated from a ClustalX alignment, using hmmbuild and hmmcalibrate from the HMMER package. Visualisation of motif positions in viral sequences was generated directly from the HMMER output files using a local tool as an interface to the GNU [50] groff software. Systematic large scale searches with polyprotein subsequences were done locally with PSI-Blast and the NCBI reference sequence database [15] . Dot plots for comparison of viral protein sequences were generated with Dotter version 3.0 [51] .  Managing emerging infectious diseases: Is a federal system an impediment to effective laws? In the 1980's and 1990's HIV/AIDS was the emerging infectious disease. In 2003–2004 we saw the emergence of SARS, Avian influenza and Anthrax in a man made form used for bioterrorism. Emergency powers legislation in Australia is a patchwork of Commonwealth quarantine laws and State and Territory based emergency powers in public health legislation. It is time for a review of such legislation and time for consideration of the efficacy of such legislation from a country wide perspective in an age when we have to consider the possibility of mass outbreaks of communicable diseases which ignore jurisdictional boundaries. The management of infectious diseases in an increasingly complex world of mass international travel, globalization and terrorism heightens challenges for Federal, State and Territory Governments in ensuring that Australia's laws are sufficiently flexible to address the types of problems that may emerge.