QUARANTINE REFORMS SUPPORTED:

EQUINE FLU WAS AUSTRALIA’S WAKE UP CALL.

Australian Racing Board’s Chief Executive, Andrew Harding has welcomed today’s announcements concerning implementation of the recommendations of the Beale review of Australia’s quarantine systems.

The Callinan Inquiry into the causes of the August 2007 outbreak of Equine Influenza (EI) found that fundamental defects in the quarantine systems run by the Australian Quarantine and Inspection Services (AQIS) were to blame. The EI outbreak and the Callinan Inquiry were the catalyst for the Beale review subsequently established by the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, the Hon. Tony Burke.

“Given how shambolic things were in the horse import division of AQIS it is a fair inference to draw that there may well be other parts of AQIS which are not as good as they should be. Tony Burke was right to establish the Beale review and his announcement that all of the recommendations of that review are to be implemented by the Government is just what is needed – strong and decisive leadership. The Government has demonstrated clearly that it is serious about doing everything necessary to ensure that something like the EI outbreak never happens again.”– Andrew Harding, Chief Executive, Australia Racing Board.

The timing of this announcement has a special significance for the racing industry, because it will not be until 25th December, 2008 that Australia is declared free from Equine Influenza by the standards of the world animal health agency OIE.

“We still have 7 days to run before Australia’s regains its international standing as a country that is free from EI, the worst animal disease outbreak in Australia’s history.”– Andrew Harding, Chief Executive, Australian Racing Board.

The Australian Racing Board will study the detail of the decisions announced today.

“Obviously we need to closely study the detail of what has been decided today. If we have any concerns then we are confident from his record that we will receive a fair hearing from the Minister.”

End Media Release.

Notes to Editors:

• The 2007 EI outbreak was the single largest animal disease emergency in Australia’s history.

• The cost of managing eradication activities including movement controls, vaccination and surveillance activity and industry support programs has been estimated at more than $349 million, including over $97 million in direct response costs and $261 million on government assistance to the horse industry. The in-direct and flow-on costs were very large and difficult to estimate reliably – one estimate placed them at more than $1 billion.

• EI was a disaster for the racing and breeding industries of this country, and its impacts were also felt throughout the community. By noon on 26 August 2007, all weekend race meetings in Australia had been cancelled, and in the first week 50 thoroughbred race meetings were lost. The standstill soon lifted elsewhere, but in NSW and Queensland no metropolitan race meetings were held for three months and racing in other parts of those States was disrupted for several months.

• The situation for industry participants was so dire that the Commonwealth Government established a scheme of emergency financial assistance for industry participants, modelled on previous schemes for natural disasters such as Cyclone Larry, which the current Minister, The Hon. Mr. Tony Burke, extended.

• In the breeding industry, the outbreak has resulted in a depleted foal crop, with the Australian Stud Book predicting a 13% fall in live foals in NSW and a 17% fall in Queensland. Nationwide, the thoroughbred foal crop is predicted to fall by 10% from that of the previous year. This will have an impact on breeders’ incomes, as well as on the size of the racehorse numbers in future years.

• As well as a depleted foal crop, breeders had to contend with the suspension of all exports of Australian horses in New Zealand, Hong Kong, United Arab Emirates, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Macau, France and Qatar. Normal trade with New Zealand and Japan has still not been reinstated.

A report by the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics estimated that the direct costs of the Equine Influenza outbreak during the initial response period, involving containment and eradication through restricted movement, this reached $500,000 a day for disease control alone, plus $4.6M a day in forgone income for businesses affected by Equine Influenza, including racing, farming and recreational businesses totalling approximately $500M for the first three months of restricted horse movements.

Compounding the loss of revenue was the cost of containing the outbreak, including vaccination costs and implementing special bio-security measures at racecourses and training establishments.