Re "Horse Industry Faces Flu Levy"

Is anyone else boiling mad at the idea that horse owners be required to pay a "levy" to subsidise the cost of the EI outbreak?

Look in the For Sale 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 inaccurate information, threatened with fines then expected to accept the backflip from "Vaccination Bad" to "Vaccination is the Answer". The phrase "had a gutful" sprang to mind at this point.

But no - then came the Endless Paperwork phase. never yet has a bit of paper had any effect on a virus, unless you perhaps wiped it on the paper then set fire to it (tempting....).

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).

We have dealt with vet bills, morbidity and mortality (mortality figures are much higher than shown, as horses who died of colic, for example, or laminitis or pneumonia, 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 received the hairy eyeball 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 and spoilt little Veronicas 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 mysitque 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.

The "compensation packages" touted by the government to assist horse owners were a joke - very few 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 is a pipe dream - there is, and always has been, legislation that indemnifies our government against such action.

I think the Government levying a fee to 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. Sorry to mix the metaphors, but I think the government, in insulting horse owners one more time, may be doing its best to kill off a goose that has been laying golden eggs.

KM, Central Coast NSW