VOTE 1 - Peter McGauran

I'm sure there are many thinking other thoughts, but please give this some
serious thought, if Mr McGauran was to lose his safe seat of Gippsland, he
would get to walk away from this disaster and probably breath a huge sigh of
relief.

Peter McGauran currently holds the portfolio for Agricultural, Fisheries and
Forestry, and whilst many are probably wishing he was sitting on the back
bench with an empty manila folder, he isn't, he holds this very crucial
portfolio and the current EI crisis lays squarely at his feet at federal
level. Make him face the music over his handling of this crisis, which can
only be described as an unmitigated disaster.

Pete, if you are not too busy studying the form guide for the Melbourne Cup
or deciding which suit to wear to the Cup luncheon, perhaps you could
address the current crisis.

Many are speculating, that after the Melbourne Cup has been run, things are
going to change. I can't help but wonder if they are wrong and that with
the pending election this couldn't just be stoved off a little longer, or
can they?

Like many, I have read the AUSVETPLAN, and think its a great plan, I was
particularly pleased to see that it had been modified on the 24th August,
Edition 3 2007, 'major update and inclusion of new cost sharing agreement'.
It was great to see that the plan was dragged out and modified once EI was
discovered in Eastern Creek Quarantine station, although a shame that
knowing the biosecurity systems in place were so inadequate that nobody
thought to 'lockdown' the country as a precaution. A week or two
inconvenience might have been an easier pill to swollow than waiting til the
disease had run rampant around the state of NSW and crept into QLD.

Pete, I see the current Edition of the AUSVETPLAN is stamped 'Proof for
Approval', can you tell us if it has yet been approved or are you not done
re-writing it to suit a small sector of the horse industry, namely the
racing industry? Its a great plan and had you stuck to it, we may not be
in the current situation.

Under the AUSVETPLAN, it refers to agreement with industry, so after reading
the EAD Response Document I am pleased to see that there is actually a point
where you have to say, well we tried and we failed, time to clean up the
mess.

Stated clearly in the EAD under Cost Sharing
* Cost Sharing is not a bottomless pot of money. Government and Industry
Party Shares are capped;

I believe the 'agreed limit' is 1% GVP (Gross Value of Production of the
industry). This number is $36 million.

Pete, could you tell us, are you re-writing the EAD as well, is the capped
limit the same as the containment zone which keeps increasing by the week to
suit your political agenda?

The way I read the AUSVETPLAN, and given the widespread state of the crisis
the Govt could have declared it 'uncontrollable' a month ago and allowed
vaccination. I applaud you for at least appearing to give eradication a
good shot, however we all know that had the reality been accepted a month
ago, that may have guaranteed the virus escape into Victoria and disrupt the
Spring Carnival. Far better to gamble on the risk of another 30, 40 or
50,000 horses becoming infected, vaccinate the race horses and hope the
masses would do a better job than AQIS with biosecurity to stop it escaping
the containment lines. Well you lost that bet Pete, and many thousands of
horses and people are paying the price!

It is also interesting to note that under the EAD Deed document, the
Australian Horse Council is NOT party to the deed and the only
representation from the horse industry that is a party to the Deed is the
Australian Racing Board. The same board that have been calling for a
National Vaccination Policy.

From a recent press release you were quoted as saying you thought all
Governments should know by February whether eradication was possible, the
same press release that you mentioned that the Victorian Spring Carnival
horses should now be safe. I'm sure the racing industry in Victoria were
comforted by that announcement, but Pete, up here in the disaster zone WE
WERE NOT.

As we have now come close to this figure of $36 million, I believe this
Friday the NMG meeting will be making a decision on how to continue. So
Peter, will the other 80% of the horse industry find out the truth before or
after the Melbourne Cup, or are you going to try and stove this off a little
longer til after the election?

You also announced recently that you had signed off on ordering 500,000 more
doses of vaccine to contain and eradicate EI. No time line was given for
this vaccine to arrive, and we are still seeing on all the DPI media
releases and situation reports that vaccine supplies are limited. How can
this be Peter?

Peter, your seat may have been safe in the past, and your indiscretions with
the Travel rort affair was soon forgotten, many people probably don't even
know about the conflict of interest when you took the Interactive Gambling
(Moratorium) Bill 2000 through the House of Representatives whilst holding
significant and valuable interests in a poker machine venue called the
Millers Inn Hotel. Mr McGuaran, anyone that owns a horse that isn't a race
horse KNOWS about this EI disaster!

Pete, I'm not asking if your horses have been vaccinated, and I hope they
are all fit and well, but there are about 60 or 70,000 that are not doing so
well, either currently suffering from EI or recovering. Whilst tens of
thousands of others are at risk, so if you would be so good as to stop
playing politics with our horses welfare and our lives, we would appreciate
some honesty NOW, before the Melbourne Cup might even earn you a few votes!

Sincerely
Lynne
From the disaster zone up north