Lawyers Prepare To Sue Over EI Report

Australia's Federal Government "is considering its response to the Callinan Inquiry into the equine influenza outbreak amid growing expectations it will face class actions seeking to recoup losses inflicted on business & individuals," reported The Australian Financial Review. "At least 2 law firms have collated hundreds of cases involving economic loss for potential class actions against the government, but are awaiting the release of the Callinan Report by Agriculture Minister Tony Burke, who received it last week." A spokesman for Burke told the newspaper he was "still considering the report & declined to comment on when it would be released". Gold Coast-based law firm Atwood Marshall "says more than 300 horse owners & individuals working in related industries have registered interest in a class action". Managing partner Jeff Garrett said interested parties "ranged from stablehands who had lost thousands of dollars to a breeder who claimed to have lost between $7-8 million". Chartered accountant PKF & Sydney law firm Clinch Neville Long Letherbarrow "are also working on a possible EI class action".

Horse death prompts call to revisit steeplechase review

The RSPCA says there needs to be a re-examination of a review completed three years ago which looked at steeplechasing and hurdling in horse races.

Yesterday, a horse in the Grand Annual at Warrnambool badly injured a leg while trying to clear the last obstacle in the race and had to be put down.
The RSPCA's Hugh Wirth says the review committee should be reconvened to see if the recommendations that were made have happened.
"This covered the training of horses, jockeys and more particularly the obstacles and how they were built," he said.
"Now the traditionalists of course didn't like our recommendations on the construction of hurdles and or steeples, but there is anecdotal evidence that this has made a huge difference."