HORSE DISEASE LEVY BILLS – 2008

AUSTRALIAN HORSE INDUSTRY COUNCIL INC.

AHIC supports the concept of a horse industry levy to help fund emergency disease responses. Importantly, the industry share of the response to an exotic disease must be equitable and fair. There are three draft levy Bills currently before the Federal Parliament.
AHIC is consulting with members and the broader horse community to determine their responses to the details in these Bills.

Background to the current Bills
Government assistance to the livestock industries is essential to assist in the emergency response to an exotic disease incursion. Agreements between government and industry about exotic disease responses go back to the mid 1950's. In those early days there was no provision for assistance for horse diseases.

Gradually the government-industry partnership agreement for exotic disease responses expanded to a longer list of livestock industry diseases and then included horse diseases.
This consultative process culminated in the late 1990's in development of the Exotic Animal Disease Response Agreement (EADRA) as we know it today. The current list of exotic diseases is 63, with more than 20 of those being diseases that can infect horses.

As part of EADRA, industry agrees to share costs of an exotic disease incursion with government. The industry share of costs is met by a levy on a product of the relevant industry. In the food and fibre industries, those products are readily identified – for example milk, meat and wool.

There is no readily definable product of the horse industry other than horses. This meant that the horse industry could not be incorporated into the current Levy Collection mechanisms that apply to the other livestock industries.

AHIC has been negotiating with government for more than 10 years about inclusion in EADRA. The hold-up has been finding a way to allow the horse industry to participate via an acceptable levy mechanism. There have been many meetings with the horse industry over the past 10 years, and several suggestions about what might be a suitable levy mechanism.
The conclusion to these discussions was a levy on horses at the time of registration, implemented after the emergency disease response was declared over.

Legislation for the horse specific levy mechanism has been in development since 2006.
There was a further hold up last year with the Federal election that put the then government into caretaker mode. Introduction of the current Horse Disease Levy and Collection Bills is the culmination of this more than 10 year process.

Passage of these Bills is essential to assure the horse industry of government assistance in the event of an exotic disease incursion. This provides access to government expertise, enactment of relevant legislation for emergency responses, mobilisation of government resources, and assurance that accounts can be paid by the Commonwealth Government during the emergency response. All this assures industry of prompt assistance through a response to an emergency disease incursion. Without EADRA industry is left on its own to cope – which is an impossible situation to confront for any of the livestock industries.

We invite you to submit any comments you might have about the necessity of a Levy mechanism to allow the horse industry to participate in EADRA and thereby take advantage of mechanisms available to the other livestock industries. Please forward your comments to AHIC by Sunday 9th of March at 5:00PM for collation as part of our presentation to the Minister.

It's over. Or is it?

Yesterday, we had the announcements declaring previously purple (NSW) and red zones (Qld.) green and amber, respectively. This allows the (almost) free transport of horses and a return to "true" competition in our sport. Great news for the sport and for the rest of the horse industry. It's amazing, though, that there has been no uniform colour scheme.

The end of restrictions does not, however, mean an end to the learning of lessons from the outbreak, and there are other, longer-term consequences that require decisions.

Vaccination

The Australian Racing Board (ARB) has called for a meeting of the Primary Industries Ministerial Council to get arrangements for the on-going vaccination of racehorse and Thoroughbred breeding stock in place. Many people involved in the equestrian industry are calling for similar measures to be introduced. Not surprisingly, there are many others who oppose continuing vaccination.

There is, of course, the question of what vaccine to use. The vaccine used in fighting the outbreak was probably the best available right now but had to be used with restriction because of its nature (genetically-modified recombinant vaccine). It has so far not been registered for use in Australia. The vaccine does not specifically cover the current strain of virus but an updated vaccine is apparently being developed and might be in production by April this year.

There are lots of arguments for and against permanent vaccination. Those in favour can list a number of advantages from vaccination but do not always understand that vaccination is not a "silver bullet" solution to all problems associated with Equine Influenza. The horses, which brought EI into the country, were vaccinated, and outbreaks do occur overseas in vaccinated horse populations causing interruptions to events, horse movements and equine-related business (like the recent shut-down of racing in Japan and Sweden). In any case, life with vaccination is more complex than life without, particularly for the running of the sport. On the other hand, without vaccination, systems will have to be in place to prevent further outbreaks and if they did occur, to have the capacity for a rapid response to confine them to small geographical areas.

Levies

As advised through our web news earlier this month, there are moves afoot to get arrangements in place for a levy mechanism to pay for the cost of disease outbreaks in the horse industry. While Equine Influenza is the obvious talking point, the levy may not actually be applied for that particular cost recovery, but who knows? Someone will have to pay for the $150 million or so that the containment and eradication effort has cost. Right now, the "industry's" share is 80 percent (10% Federal Government, 10% State Governments) but there are efforts to re-categorise the disease to ensure governments pick up a greater portion of the bill. It is obvious now that when the Emergency Animal Disease Response Agreement (EADRA) was first drawn up, no-one appreciated the severity of the socio-economic impact that an outbreak of Equine Influenza would have in Australia.

If you consider the hundred of millions of dollars damage already caused to the horse industry by the outbreak, the levy looks like a "double-whammy" for those involved in it. Should one say: "Kick 'm while they are down!"?

Or are we flogging a dead horse here? When we ask "government" to pick up the bill, the money does not come from some kind of inexhaustible money tap. It comes from revenues raised by governments. It simply means that we would spread the burden across a greater number of individuals and organisations that have provided the revenue. The Federal Government raises its revenue as follows (the figured are approximate): 50% from individual taxation, 5% from superannuation tax and FBT, 25% from company tax, 12% from Excise and Customs duties and most of the rest (6.5%) from non-taxation revenue. GST, by the way, is redistributed to the States, which also have other sources of revenue, as we know.

National Representation

The EFA has been invited to meetings discussing the levy and ways of finding a reasonably fair mechanism to raise "Industry's share". Apart from Government, the three bodies "recognised" through their membership of the Australian Animal Health Council (now Animal Health Australia - AHA), namely the Australian Racing Board (ARB), the Australian Harness Racing Council (AHRC) and the Australian Horse Industry Council (AHIC), are normally parties to these discussions. The EFA has, however, also been invited to these meetings.

Now, both ARB and AHRC are members of AHIC, yet they have separate representation on various bodies through their individual membership of AHA. We believe that because of the broad base of its membership, AHIC is not in a position to properly represent the special interests of Equestrian sport and all that goes with it. The EFA National Board will meet on Monday by telephone conference to discuss this and other issues like the levy and vaccination in greater detail.

Olympic Preparations

It has been patently obvious to all interested in Equestrian sport that the outbreak of Equine Influenza and the associated movement restrictions have played havoc with our riders' preparations for the Olympic Games. It may be possible to make up some ground in the remaining time, particularly by moving activities to the Northern Hemisphere where there are more competition opportunities. This does, however, cost a lot more money.

We have submitted a special funding request to the Federal Government. It has been forwarded to Prime Minister Rudd with the support of Federal Agriculture Minister Tony Burke and Federal Sports Minister Kate Ellis, but we are still waiting for a reply. A failure to get this substantial support will severely affect our chances of success at the Games. This would be another one of the sad consequences of the EI outbreak. Federal Government funding can help limit the damage.

On the Olympic/High Performance side, I should mention that our HP Department has issued its first "Beijing-Bound via Hong Kong" newsletter and a comprehensive High Performance Handbook (see links below). Well done!

Callinan Inquiry

Anyone who has made the transcripts of the Inquiry their bed-time reading will still wonder what the exact "verdict" of Commissioner Callinan will be. If you have not read any of the transcripts, the one of yesterday, apparently the last day of "evidence" gathering about the cause of the outbreak, will give you a good idea of what has been happening at the Commission.

Events

We are in the process of preparing a summary of outcomes from the recent EFA National Forum, which has been praised by many participants as the best so far. On the equestrian competition front, a lot will be happening in March and even more in April and May, so keep your eye on the EFA web and its calendar.

Surveys, surveys ....

There has been a marked increase in activities aimed at getting a better picture of the horse industry. We are being bombarded with all kinds of surveys on economic and social impacts of the EI outbreak and the size and "value" of various industry sectors. Please assist were you can.

Here is something different, however. Are you on drugs? What should the National Sporting Organisation (EFA in this instance) do about it? Is it doing it well? It would be good if you participated and helped a young PhD student in Canberra gather some useful information. The hyperlink to the on-line survey is: An Examination of NSOs, Legitimacy and Performance Enhancing Substances.

"My Horse and me" Video Game

This game is finally available in Australia (PC and Nintendo DS versions from 29 February, Wii since mid-February), so go and have a look at the Atari web for details.

Supporters and Sponsors

I would like to thank our funding agencies, sponsors and supporters for their continued assistance.

In particular, we would like to mention

• the Australian Sports Commission, our Principal Sponsor,
• the Australian Olympic Committee,
• Horseland
• Kentucky Equine Research and Ridley Agriproducts,
• Horse Deals magazine, and
• Aon Risk Management Services.

For more news and other information, please visit www.equestrian.org.au or your State Branch web (www.[state].equestrian.org.au).

Make it a good day!

Franz Venhaus
Chief Executive Officer

EI Levy

Once again the government shows how out of touch they are with the horse industry in general. It is unbelievable that through their mismanagement of quarantine they are attempting to shift the cost onto your general recreational horse owner who in many instances received none of the assistance that was so hastily and inequitably distributed. In Australia the general recreational horse owner is not the wealthy hunting aristocrat as portrayed by books and movies. It consists of middle to low income earners, plain old mums and dads with a horse mad kid at pony club or riding adults that are your everyday wage earner who has a passion for horses and who struggle to support their horses in a world of rising feed costs, agistment costs, insurance costs, petrol costs and so it goes on. Australia is unique in the way we have opportunity for most people to have access to activities like horseriding.This has been diminished over the last 10 years and will be further diminished through the EI levy. I believe this will be the final straw and people will oppose this Levy. The government let the bug in so the government should wear the cost. Maybe then they will be a little more careful in their quality control processes.

Scott