Owners won't foot EI bill

THE Australian Racing Board is seeking a meeting with the Primary Industries Ministerial Council to ensure all thoroughbreds are included in the national equine influenza vaccination program.

Directors of the ARB met in Launceston yesterday and declared their opposition to any attempts by the Federal Government to make racehorse owners bear the costs of the program implemented to eradicate the disease. The ARB estimates those costs will be in excess of $100 million.
"We believe that it would be fundamentally inappropriate and inequitable for the horse industry to bear the costs of mounting a response to a disease outbreak in circumstances where it had been established that the Commonwealth did not maintain an adequate set of measures to protect the horse population from that outbreak occurring," ARB chairman Bob Pearson said.
The ARB also allayed concerns that the Federal Government was proposing to recover the costs of the financial assistance package known as CHAPS.