A CONSPIRACY THEORY?

I am a professional associated with the horse industry, and lately, when talking to my counterparts, there has been a general consensus that there is more to this EI infection than meets the eye. So much so, that it has prompted me to put pen to paper to allow people to read this and make up their own minds.

It is my belief that the current EI disaster is one of the greatest political conspiracies ever perpetrated upon the Australian people. The current Govt stands to gain at least three things from this crisis.

• Much political mileage over the apparent poor handling of the situation by the Labour State Govts involved
• The implementation of a national identification scheme for horses using microchipping
• The slow down of the economy caused by shutting down one of the largest industries in the country, which in turn may influence the Board of the Reserve Bank of Australia (the next meeting is on 06 Nov 07), to put interest rates on hold during the election campaign.

Why?
The current Govt is in serious trouble heading into the looming election and the last thing they need is another interest rate rise. The mining boom is pushing the economy along at an alarming rate, and at the time that EI "escaped" Eastern Creek, at the end of August, the major news on the economic front was the sub-prime mortgage crisis in the US. This crisis is set to push interest rates even higher around the world. Labor was giving the current Govt a lot of pain over the previous nine rate rises since 2002.

What to do?

The quickest way to cause a slowing in the economy is to put a lot of people out of work immediately in one fell swoop.

Why the horse industry?

The horse industry, according to a study conducted by Rural Industry Research and Development Corporation, in 2001, and authored by Jenny Gordon, was then (based on 1990’s figures) worth in excess of $6 billion dollars to the GDP. This did not include wagering (betting) and, as she stated, was one of the largest industries in the country. This industry has experienced considerable growth since this report. It consists of thousands of micro businesses, and with the exception of the thoroughbred and harness racing industries, has no major representative body, and virtually no union interest. It is large, diverse and un-coordinated. The horse industry is, along with the cattle industries, subject to the AusVet plan which, by law, provides for a complete standstill in the case of an outbreak of an exotic disease of which EI is one.

To shut down the cattle industry would be far too damaging, as the beef industry is largely an export industry and the long-term implications of a disease like foot and mouth would be too great. The horse industry is by and large domestic and uncontrolled. We import more horses than we export, and most people will obey the law in the case of an exotic disease because they don’t know much about it and they love their horses, and don’t really want them to get sick.

How?

There was a known EI outbreak in Japan and known shuttle stallions about to enter the country. It was also well known within the industry that biosecurity precautions were being largely ignored at the Eastern Creek Quarantine facility, which has been confirmed by a subsequent inquiry. Just how EI got to Centennial Park will probably never be known, but it was, I believe intended to get into the three day event horses, because of the three day event at Maitland and Morgan Park, Qld, plus Parkes and a few other places like Narrabri. So why did the Qld Govt allow an event to go ahead after Minister McGauran had declared a standstill?

Well this whole thing is being run and orchestrated by Animal Health Australia, a public company of which the largest shareholder is the Federal Govt and they are the people responsible for the NLIS being implemented. They administer the Ausvet plan and the States, which are also shareholders, do as they are told.

However, they knew what would happen with EI, because, according to Dr David Lovell, Dr Reg Pascoe had spelled it out at a conference some years ago, and Dr Lovell said at the Ipswich EI forum, that it is uncanny how accurate Dr Pascoe was in his predictions.

The horse is the only commercially produced large animal in Australia, without any ID scheme. However AHA, I believe, consider ID essential. Mike Bond, the Director of Programs for AHA, said at the Ipswich EI forum, that once the $60million cap set, (to deal with EI) is reached, everyone will have to register their horses and there will be a $10 levy per horse. Last Monday a DPI investigator confirmed to me that all registered horses would be micro-chipped.

So why would they do such a thing?

When they tried, and finally managed, to implement NLIS they met with huge resistance. If they just tried to bring it in for the wider horse population (racehorses are already micro-chipped) it would have been nearly impossible to do so. They needed a trigger whereby people would accept it willingly – and this is it! No chip – no move – no sale – no competition!!

AHA chose the genetically modified canary pox vaccine, as it is expensive, rare and very sensitive, so that only trained personnel could administer it. This was ordered against the advice of Dr Tim Roberts, who is a highly respected vet who was involved in the EI outbreak in South Africa.

The racing industry, because of their political power and the betting revenue, were to be the first to get it. This was to limit the loss of revenue to the Govt. but (due to typical bureaucratic bungling, and their inadequacies in dealing with such a disease) this has now come back to bite them. So NSW racing has argued for, and got, the killed or inactive vaccine, but it is too late for a lot of us.

So there you have it, my fellow horse owners. I hope this helps everyone to see what is at play here. This, no doubt, will be discredited as another silly conspiracy theory. However when you take into context the timing of it all, and this Govt.’s past history in attempting to gain back voters with extenuating circumstances such as Tampa and children overboard affairs, all this has a very nasty smell to it.

Democracy is nearly dead in this country, and it is disgusting to realise that a political agenda has caused the pain and heartache of horse owners across this once free land – free from Big Brother and equine influenza – not so now people!!

Anthony