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Friday, 4 April 2008

Dismay over injured jockey's WorkCover settlement

CRIPPLED jockey Darryl Johnston yesterday would not comment on a Queensland WorkCover offer that will see him left with only $10,000.

Johnston said on legal advice he preferred not to comment but racing officials around the country are dismayed by the settlement.
Johnston, 24, became a paraplegic after a fall at Rockhampton races on December 29 last year and his payout will be $125,000 from WorkCover.
Under the agreement, hospital bills of more than $90,000 will be deducted and Johnston has had to pay for his wheelchair and vehicle modification leaving him with about $10,000.
Johnston wants to pursue a career as a horse trainer and hopes to set up business in Mackay when the new season starts on August 1.
Regarded as a top-class rider in north Queensland, Johnston was a heavyweight jockey and his partner is apprentice Trinity Bannon.
Victorian Jockeys Association executive officer Des O'Keeffe said it was a disaster for Johnson and he would have received double the amount for the same accident in Victoria.
"I have spoken to Darryl and what do you say? It is a disaster for him," O'Keeffe 0said.
"Unfortunately it is not a unique case in Australia."
O'Keeffe said the maximum payout for serious injury in Victoria was $250,000 from WorkCover and riders were required to match that amount in personal injury insurance.
Queensland Racing executive Malcolm Tuttle said the $125,000 cap on serious injury was a policy jockeys had agreed was adequate. Tuttle said QR was having talks with WorkCover to see whether any further payment could be made for Johnston.
"We expect to know in about a week," Tuttle said.
"The cap for serious injury in Queensland is $125,000 and we are in discussions with them."
Tuttle said QR paid $1.4 million shortfall in WorkCover insurance annually and any increase would see that figure rise. Jockeys pay a $4 a ride for personal cover and an additional $6.40 for public liability.
www.news.com.au/couriermail

Horse imports need independent auditor, inquiry hears

The equine influenza inquiry has heard an independent auditor should be appointed to oversee the importation of all horses into Australia.

The inquiry heard final submissions in Sydney today after final hearings into how the horse flu virus entered the country in August last year.
The virus brought horse racing to a halt and cost the equine industry more than $4 million a day at its peak.
In his final submission, the council assisting the inquiry Tony Meagher SC laid the blame for the outbreak on the Federal Government and the Australian Quarantine and Inspection service.
Mr Meagher told the hearing that an independent auditor should be put in place to oversee all aspects of horse importation.
The Commissioner, Ian Callinan, said it may be very difficult to restore public confidence in Australia's quarantine procedures.

Olympics equestrian funding 'too late'

Equestrian Heath Ryan, from the Hunter region of New South Wales, says a $1.5 million Federal Government funding package to help Olympic hopefuls and their horses has come too late for him and other riders.

The funding is aimed at boosting the equestrian team's preparations for Beijing.
Mr Ryan says he needs to be in Germany for a qualifying event in early May, meaning his horse should already be in quarantine.
He says a horse he rides for a private owner is already in quarantine and may compete, but his own horse's chances are slim.
"For me to make those trials my horses have to be in quarantine," he said.
"That's going to be difficult for me to even get into quarantine early enough now, because there's been no chance of funding up until now.
"I'm in real trouble in terms of my Olympic preparation."

'Never a dull moment' in agriculture, says McGauran

Peter McGauran says the time he spent as Federal Agriculture Minister from 2005 to 2007 is his fondest memory of politics.

The Nationals MP has announced he's resigning from his position as the Member for Gippsland, and says he will now try a new career in the thoroughbred racing industry.

Despite overseeing some of the toughest times in agriculture, including continuing drought, the horse flu outbreak and Cyclone Larry, Mr McGauran says he will miss representing Australian farmers.

"Looking back, even though each of those portfolios presented their own personal and professional rewards and challenges, it was always the Ministry of Agriculture that I devoted myself to, because it was part and parcel of my upbringing, my life, and my own electorate," he says.

"There's never a dull moment, let alone a dull day in the portfoilio."

Security blamed for horse flu havoc

THE equine flu virus that devastated the Australian horse industry had escaped from the Eastern Creek Quarantine Centre, and poor practices at the centre had caused the escape, the Equine Flu Inquiry has been told.

In his submission to the inquiry yesterday on its last day of sitting, counsel assisting, Tony Meagher, told Commissioner Ian Callinan, QC, that not even rudimentary biosecurity procedures were present at the facility in August last year when the virus escaped.

However, Mr Meagher has been contradicted by the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, which said that no mechanism had been established for "the assumed escape of the virus from the [quarantine centre]" therefore it did not follow that deficiencies in the centre's biosecurity procedures was responsible for the outbreak.

Mr Meagher said that if the virus escaped because of slack procedures adopted by veterinarians attending the horses at the Eastern Creek centre, it was quite wrong for the department to say that officers of Australian Quarantine and Inspection Service were entitled to rely on the professionalism of the veterinarians.

"They take the notion of shared responsibility to mean that they have no obligation whatsoever with respect to what happened within the quarantine facility," he said.

The inquiry has heard evidence there were persistent breaches of requirements at the centre relating to showering, changing clothes and cleaning equipment in the period before August 17, 2007, when the first horse fell ill.

Mr Meagher said the department continued to assert it was sufficient to rely on others to perform functions, particularly without supervision.

Ian Harvey, for the state of NSW, said the Government's position was that the inquiry had exposed "a number of systemic failures in the development, documentation and quarantine practice" that had contributed to the outbreak.

The Government called for a co-ordinated national approach, encompassing all states, territories and the Commonwealth.

EI inquiry chief considers findings

The head of the inquiry into Australia's equine influenza outbreak has retired to consider his findings.

There are calls for an overhaul of the government run quarantine system in relation to horses and the appointment of an inspector general.

Former High Court judge Ian Callinan has taken evidence from more than 200 witnesses over the past five months, including senior public servants from the Australian Quarantine and Inspection Service (AQIS) which has come under fire for its unwieldy management structure and lack of clear lines of responsibility.

The EI outbreak in August shut the multi-million dollar racing industry down in NSW and Queensland for four months, curtailed the breeding season and resulted in unprecedented restrictions in horse movement.

Counsel assisting the inquiry, Tony Meagher, and lawyers for the parties appearing, agree the likely source of the virus was a shipment of horses which arrived from Japan on August 8.

The shipment included mares and stallions, some of which were offloaded in Melbourne before the remaining horses travelled to Sydney and subsequently the Eastern Creek quarantine station from where it escaped into the general horse population.

Investigations by the Department of Primary Industries (DPI) and the inquiry have failed to pinpoint exactly how that happened but the consensus is that the system failed.

Coolmore stallion Encosta De Lago became sick in Eastern Creek with the likely source either Snitzel or Rock Of Gibraltar who both travelled on the plane from Japan.

The spread of EI has been traced to a horse show at Maitland on the weekend of August 19 but the link between that event and Eastern Creek has not been established.

Callinan has expressed his frustrations throughout the inquiry when trying to come to terms with the multi layers of AQIS management and lack of auditing systems.

The first of his draft recommendations was that an external auditor to be known as the office of the inspector general be appointed with duties to include the inspection of both pre-export and post-arrival quarantine centres.

"In some ways, it does look a little radical, but there is the aspect of restoration of public confidence; there is the aspect of problems within the department," the recommendation said.

"In a sense, one might have expected Biosecurity to have done a lot of this, but it didn't do it, if AQIS itself hadn't done it."

He also called for a separate section within AQIS relating specifically to horse importation saying the current system was over-elaborate and resulted in an absence of accountability and responsibility for, and compliance with, procedures concerning the importation of horses.

Among those to give evidence at the inquiry were grooms, farriers and veterinary surgeons who attended the overseas stallions at Eastern Creek.

Most said they were aware of protocols regarding the handling of horses at the station but because the rules were not always enforced, they were not always followed.

Retrospective tests on the horses which were offloaded in Melbourne and sent to Victoria's Spotswood station, showed they had developed EI anti-bodies but the virus was contained within the centre.

The parties to make submissions to the inquiry included the states of NSW and Queensland, Darley and Coolmore Studs, International Racehorse Transport, the Australian Horse Industry Council, the Australian Veterinary Association, Randwick Equine Centre, the Equestrian Federation of Australia and the Australian Racing Board.

The commissioner is required to provide his report by April 25.

Callinan inquiry finishes

SYDNEY - Leaders of an inquiry into Australia's crippling equine influenza outbreak finished taking evidence on Thursday after five months and testimony from 200 witnesses.
Former High Court judge Ian Callinan, who will issue his report by April 25, heard evidence from senior personnel at the Australian Quarantine and Inspection Service, which was criticised for its management structure and lack of clear lines of responsibility.

Equine influenza was first detected in Australia last August and spread quickly among horse populations in New South Wales and Queensland.

Horse movements were stopped and racing was halted. The cost of the outbreak was estimated at as much as $1billion.

Inquiry lawyer Tony Meagher said the likely source of the virus was a shipment of horses which arrived from Japan in August.

It included mares and stallions, some of which were offloaded in Melbourne before the remaining horses travelled to Sydney and subsequently the Eastern Creek quarantine station, where the virus escaped into the general horse population.

Among those to give evidence at the inquiry were grooms, farriers, and veterinary surgeons who took care of the overseas stallions at Eastern Creek. Most said they were aware of protocols regarding the handling of horses at the station but because the rules were not always enforced, they were not always followed.

132 Aust Imports Arrive In Singapore Quarantine

In Singapore, 132 horses from Australia (delayed due to last year's equine influenza outbreak) are beginning their 3-weeks in quarantine (at Horsecity at Bukit Timah & the Singapore Turf's Club facility at Neo Tiew Road) before heading to their respective trainers. The horses have arrived in a series of shipments: 32 from Perth on March 27, 18 from Melbourne & Perth on Wednesday (April 2), 29 yesterday (April 3) & 53 from Melbourne tomorrow (Saturday April 5). Singapore Trainer's Association president Len Treloar (who has 17 horses in quarantine, a "mix of 2YOs & 3YOs) declared: "It's been a long wait for all concerned, but it's a huge relief to finally get them here. It's a great relief for everybody concerned, but especially for all the owners who have been persevering with their horses. While the EI outbreak has had a dramatic impact on all of us here in Singapore, it's had a huge impact on Australia. I just can't wait to get the horses into the stables & get them into work. The next 3-6 months are going to be very interesting, but I'm certainly looking towards the future." Treloar purchased horses in Australia 9 months ago which were in quarantine, ready to travel to Singapore when the EI outbreak hit Australia; these horses had been "in & out of training in Australia preparing for their importation into Singapore in the hope of quickly making it to the racetrack". But the quarantine period (3 weeks in Australia & a further 3 weeks on arrival in Singapore) meant they "would not be ready to race until August, at the earliest, after inactivity during their confinement". Among other trainers: Brian Dean has 15 Australian horses to enter his stables (including the former David Hayes-trained 4YO Sendeed, a son of Montjeu raced by Dubai's Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid Al Maktoum's Shadwell Stud who has 6 wins from 20 starts); Cliff Brown (one of the hardest hit by the EI outbreak as the majority of his stable was left behind when he made the move to Singapore last December) has 11 horses from his farm at Narbethong (north-east of Melbourne) now in quarantine with more to come in further shipments in the coming weeks; newcomer Michael Freedman & Desmond Koh both have 15 horses currently in quarantine; Don Baertschiger has 14, along with John Meagher (8), Michael Clements (7), Patrick Shaw (7), Steven Burridge (6) & David Hill (5).

EI Inquiry Hearings End & Report Due By April 25

Retired High Court judge Ian Callinan, head of the inquiry into Australia's equine influenza outbreak, has retired to consider his findings & is due to provide his report by April 25. Counsel assisting the inquiry Tony Meagher summed up that the likely source of the virus was a shipment of horses which arrived from Japan on August 8. (Apr 4)