Horse flu battle almost won

MARK COLVIN: The battle against horse flu in Australia appears to be almost won.
95 per cent of New South Wales is now free of the equine influenza which crippled the racing industry for months.
And today is the cut-off for any applications for funding assistance.
Millions have been paid out but racing organisations are asking for an extension.
Lindy Kerin reports.

LINDY KERIN: After months of cancelled races, millions of dollars in lost revenue there's finally some good news for the horse industry.
Today another eight regions in New South Wales have been given a clean bill of health and declared free of equine influenza.
The New South Wales Primary Industries Minister Ian Macdonald says that leaves just 5 per cent of the state affected by horse flue.
IAN MACDONALD: They've now been cleared through testing and added to our percentage of the state that is now completely EI free which is probably in the order of around 95 per cent of the state.
LINDY KERIN: It's welcome news for residents in the central west town of Wellington.
Horse flu restrictions had threatened next month's Wellington Boot Race Carnival - an event that attracts people from around the country
The Secretary of the Wellington Race Club Ian Giffin says the race meet can now go ahead after restrictions have been lifted.
IAN GIFFIN: It's fantastic news, also for the community, I've just been in with the tourism officer doing some work on a brochure to be sent out for The Wellington Boot and she tells me that the Boot is worth a million dollars for the Wellington district.
(Sound of phone dialling)
RECORDED INFORMATION: Welcome to the equine influenza information line.
LINDY KERIN: The equine influenza hotline will continue for some time but the deadline for assistance from the Federal Government officially ends today.
Brian Judd is the acting CEO of Racing NSW.
BRIAN JUDD: In a time of crisis the Federal government's various assistance grants have been a tremendous help. They were really a lifeline to the thoroughbred industry in New South Wales and even also in Queensland.
The main grant, we've been calling the CHAPS, which is the Commercial Horse Assistance Payment Scheme, and it entails a daily payment to both trainers and owners for horses that are in work in racing condition during the period of EI.
So those payments benefited trainers in keeping their stables open and owners to continue in the racing industry, and to meet their costs and continue to operate.
So they've been a tremendous boost and really in a time of crisis, I'm not too sure how the thoroughbred industry would have come out of it financially if those grants, particularly the CHAPS, had not been available.
LINDY KERIN: The Federal Government's inquiry led by Justice Ian Callinan, set up to find out how equine influenza entered Australia, is expected to continue hearing evidence until the end of the month.
Only then will it be clear how big the compensation bill will be.
The New South Wales Primary Industries Minister Ian Macdonald says he wouldn't be surprised to see many of those affected seek compensation
IAN MACDONALD: They have every right to be annoyed and angry because from what I've read of the lapses in bio-security at Eastern Creek, it's quite a horrifying story.
If the Commonwealth can review this area and really build it up, so we do go back to having a very tight system in place, and I hope the Callinan inquiry does point in that direction, because this has really been a shot across the bow for Australia.
We've always prided ourselves on having very clean, green and exotic disease-free livestock and agricultural product and to keep that in place, we really need to make sure that our quarantine services can handle and thereby handle this and make sure that we can in the future protect those industries.
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