NO HYPOCRISY: JUST A COMMITMENT TO RATIONAL DECISION MAKING AND CONSISTENCY

The Australian Racing Board Chairman has responded to claims by the former Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry Minister, the Honorable Warren Truss, that the organisation had been hypocritical on quarantine because it asked him to overturn a ban on horses travelling from the United Kingdom in 2001.

“The claim of hypocrisy is unfounded and we reject it outright. What we asked for in 2001 was not a relaxation of quarantine measures but for a rational science-based decision be made and for quarantine policy to be applied consistently.”- Bob Pearson, Chairman, Australian Racing Board said today.

Mr Pearson has made public the 2001 correspondence from the Australian Racing Board to the former Minister to allow people to judge for themselves whether the Minister’s serious claims are made out or not.

“The correspondence sent to the then Minister in 2001 tells the story clearly and it bears no resemblance to the claims made by Mr Truss over the weekend. The subsequent decision by AQIS and biosecurity to overturn the ban puts it beyond any shadow of doubt that the Australian Racing Board was actually the body responsible for calling for the Government to implement good quarantine policy.”

Mr Pearson has explained that the initial decision to ban horse imports from the UK was independently assessed to have no scientific justification.

“The facts were that imports of scoured wool, that Biosecurity Australia actually judged to pose a risk of carrying foot and mouth disease (FMD), were being allowed into Australia, whereas horses were being banned with no scientific justification. If anything the initial handling of the issue by the authorities in 2001 only serves to further suggest that Australia’s approach to quarantine policy is not always as good as it should be.”

Mr Pearson is calling on Mr Truss to correct the record.

“I call on Mr Truss to withdraw his totally unfounded claims.”

End Media Release.