Official doesn't believe AQIS to blame for EI outbreak

The inquiry into the equine influenza outbreak has heard that Australia's most senior quarantine official does not agree the outbreak was a failure by the Australian Quarantine and Inspection Service (AQIS).
The Department of Agriculture and Fisheries handles quarantine through AQIS which manages border security and Biosecurity Australia, which creates policy.
The secretary of the department, Conall O'Connell, says Biosecurity Australia had never done a formal risk assessment on horses, but he did not accept that the equine influenza outbreak was a failure by quarantine authorities.
Commissioner Ian Callinan has asked him to face the possibility of a finding that the virus escaped from either the Eastern Creek quarantine station, Sydney Airport or from horse transport; any of which would be a failure by AQIS.