Racing chiefs, minister at odds over horse flu

THE Australian Racing Board and the Federal Government are at loggerheads over Australia's quarantine standards and their role in the outbreak of equine influenza.

The board accused the former agriculture minister, Warren Truss, of twice fobbing off its concerns that relaxed quarantine standards could lead to an outbreak, even issuing a written guarantee that "it could not happen".

Mr Truss rejected the criticism and accused the board of being hypocritical. He said that it had asked him in 2001 to overturn a ban on importing horses from Britain during an outbreak of foot and mouth disease, and on two other occasions been involved in requests to speed up quarantine procedures.

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