EI Levy - my message to PM Kevin Rudd & Tony Burke MP

To: Tony.Burke.MP@aph.gov.au

Sent: Wednesday, February 27, 2008 2:11 PM

Subject: EI Levy

I am boiling mad at the idea that horse owners be required to pay a "levy" to subsidise the cost of the EI outbreak.

The outbreak of EI was declared a "National Disaster". For other National Disasters, such as bushfires, floods, cyclones etc, have there been subsequent moves to levy all Australian homeowners to cover the costs of a Government response?

Look in the For Sale and Stud Disperal ads - many breeders and owners are getting out of the industry already. After years of crippling drought, horse owners in NSW and Queensland have had to face added financial and personal burdens due to the EI outbreak, which the Callinan Enquiry has attributed to unsatisfactory practices at the GOVERNMENT-RUN Quarantine facility in Eastern Creek.

At the start of the outbreak, many people asked for access to vaccine. This was denied. What followed was a Laurel and Hardy farce where owners were slated with blame, given piecemeal or inaccurate information regarding the nature and means of spread of the virus, threatened with fines, then expected to accept the backflip from "Vaccination Bad" to "Vaccination is the Answer".

Many of us had paid all our Association memberships, insurances, renewal fees etc for horse competition (hundreds or even thousands of dollars) - there are no rebates for this outlay, but we missed out on virtually the whole competition year - some Associations are trying to organise National shows, to provide for members, but also to bring in revenue. Numbers will inevitably be down, we are still trying to bring our horses back into work and get back to "normal" (whatever that was).And we are not just horse owners - we are also fuel-buyers, mortgage-holders, and many of us are not financially well-off - we have been copping it from all sides. Many of us are selling up already - there is a "For Sale" sign out the front of my property, I am hoping to sell before the mortgage payments increase any further and our family is forced out of our home.

We have dealt with vet bills, morbidity and mortality (mortality figures are much higher than shown, as horses who died of colic, or laminitis or pneumonia, for example, as a result of EI, have not been included as EI fatalities). We have dealt with the costs, in materials and time, of maintaining biosecurity. We have spent hours on the phone and the computer meeting DPI requirements and filling in various forms. We have duly had our horses caught, swabbed, tested - sometimes tested again when the paperwork went missing - microchipped, documented, and ultimately have been socially isolated, then treated with hostility and suspicion from the general public anyway if we dared to drive past with a horsefloat.

There is a perception that horse owners are silvertail racing barons, or spoilt, priviliged girls with a choice of hacks and country properties; that owning a horse is a rich man's game - maybe it is getting to the stage where it is. But I know many people on ordinary - to very ordinary - incomes, who make sacrifices to own horses and participate in a hobby they love. Many of our so-called "Australian values" are built around the idea of independent, courageous horsemen and women, and the mystique of the bush.

In that tradition, many of us dutifully slogged through the EI crisis, doing all that was required of us, shouldering the financial burdens, and putting the welfare of our horses first - as always.

What about a "thankyou" for the horse owners of NSW and Queensland who have - evidently - complied with the government's eradication program, to result in success against daunting odds?

Recreational owners are suffering already, and this levy may be the final straw for many.

Shows will have less support, costs and entry fees will have to rise, and more will drop out. There will be less shows and events. Horse prices will drop as stock floods the market. Breeders will get less for their stock in a buyer's market, many will sell off registerable youngstock without registration due to the increased costs - less registered horses out there, less shows but more expensive entry fees to cover costs, less new Association memberships. More breeders will in turn give up and sell off their stock due to costs and loss of viability of their businesses. The feed merchants, the livestock transporters, the float manufacturers, the equestrian supplies businesses - many of these will feel the effects.

The "compensation packages" touted by the government to assist horse owners were a joke - very few ordinary owners qualified for any financial assistance, once again the racing industry with its money and power received the lion's share. Any sort of class action against the government for allowing EI to get through quarantine was a pipe dream - there is, and always has been, legislation that indemnifies our government against such action.

I think the Government levying a fee from horseowners to pay for its own mistakes is adding insult to injury. It will be the last nail in the coffin for many low-income horse owners, who just cannot financially cope with one more burden.

What horse owners needed at this time was help to get back to normal, to recover financially and emotionally from the devastation of loss of income, loss of stock, loss of recreational outlets, of social networks, friendships, and even family relationships, as many have broken down during the crises of drought, flood, financial hardship and EI. What we did NOT need was to be handed yet another demand for payment - it may seem a small thing in terms of the amounts being discussed (and we have had our faith in government in general sorely tried, we don't really believe what we are told by government representatives), but the perception of it and the betrayal it represents, should not be underestimated.

I think that the effect of this Bill will not be to recover monies spent on eradicating EI - it will be the final straw for many people, who will choose to give up their horses as an expense they can no longer afford. Like the Fringe Benefits tax, it will not be the "cash cow" the boffins project, because there is the option for people NOT to continue in their current course - it is making it very easy to give up, in a climate where continuing as a horse owner has already been for many a financial hardship for years.

Mrs Kerry Morgan

Horse Association Memberships 2006 - 2007:

Tall Timbers Pony Club

Australian Quarter Horse Association

Australian Appaloosa Association

Hunter Valley Regional Appaloosa Club

Central Coast Regional Appaloosa Club