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Thursday 3 April 2008

New comment on comment on $6bn industry at risk amid race to prev

Hey dont be too hard on the poor thing.
probably only counting the TB's that got it.

surely anyone reading the papers could be forgiven for thinking the only equines affected were those belonging to the racing industry?

Olympic equestrian team gets $1.5m boost

Australia's equestrian team finally have something to smile about after months of bad news, following the equine influenza outbreak last year.

The federal government has announced the Olympic team will be given a $1.5 million funding boost after preparations for the Beijing games were hampered by the flu crisis.
The funding will allow prospective Olympic riders, horses and support staff to travel overseas for training, competition and games qualification events.
Australia's major Olympic qualifying events had to be cancelled late last year due to restrictions on horse movements.
"The equestrian federation asked the Rudd government if it could assist and we were happy to take up their request," Agriculture Minister Tony Burke said in a statement.
The funding will be made available through the Equestrian Federation of Australia.
Federation president Geoff Sinclair said equestrian riders had been under "massive strain and disadvantage".
"The whole equestrian community, and especially the national squads, which are finalising their preparations, thank the Australian government for providing decisive support," Mr Sinclair said in a statement.
Australia was declared provisionally free of equine influenza on March 13.

Document causes controversy at horse flu inquiry

There's been a fiery exchange between Commissioner Ian Callinan and the Federal Government's barrister on the final day of the horse flu inquiry in Sydney.

It centred around a controversial document, prepared for the former Agriculture Minister, Peter McGauran, over the possible privatisation of Australia's quarantine stations.

The policy paper to Cabinet on quarantine privatisation options was prepared last year, but never reached the minister because the election was called.

Counsel for the Commonwealth, Alan Robertson, told Commissioner Callinan the Federal Government would be denied procedural fairness if the document was considered, because there was no proof AQIS's executive manager, Jenny Gordon, had adopted or signed it.

Commissioner Callinan fired back: "But it's her document. Do you want me to ignore the words approved by Jenny Gordon?"

The commissioner invited Mr Robertson to recall the Federal Government's witness immediately, but the offer was declined.

The hearing continues.

Horse flu hits yearling sales

Organisers of the nation's premier yearling sales say Equine Influenza has indirectly cost the event $20-30 million dollars.

The Magic Millions sales ended yesterday on the Gold Coast, grossing $122 million.
But the average sale price was greatly reduced.
General manager David Chester says while economic downturn played a part, fears surrounding horse flu travel restrictions before the sale, kept many southern stud vendors away.
"We lost about 80 there, and there were quite a number of horses from the Hunter Valley, some of the better horses that didn't come because of the worry of EI and getting the horses out of here if the EI ban wasn't lifted," he says.
"Fortunately it was lifted before the sale, but the damage had already been done with some of the quality horses."

Horse flu inquiry coming to a close

Five months after it began, the Equine Influenza inquiry is hearing closing submissions today.

The inquiry has taken evidence from 260 witnesses and generated more than 80,000 documents in its bid to establish how horse flu entered Australia last August.

The first parties to appear are the states of New South Wales and Queensland, who will be followed by the Commonwealth.

Commissioner Callinan released his draft report earlier this month, and received 30 submissions in response.

He flagged major changes, among them the appointment of an external auditor to inspect all Australian and overseas horse quarantine stations, significant increases in quarantine fees for imported shuttle stallions, and a complete overhaul of Australia's quarantine agencies, AQIS and Biosecurity Australia.

Most parties have agreed with many of the Commissioner's draft recommmendations, although a planned review on whether live horses should be imported into Australia at all has met with a cool reception.

It is not known if the inquiry will recommend an upgrade in the status of EI as a disease, which would force the Federal Government to shoulder more of the cost should there be another outbreak in the future.