Simon Crean (Hotham, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Trade and Regional Development) Share this | Hansard source

Well, it has happened; it is prophetic. The letter continued:

... with catastrophic economic consequences. A quarantine breakdown is the only way Australia will be exposed to this exotic disease.

How much better off would we have been had the government heeded those words? But they were not heeded. We now have confirmed cases of this influenza in many locations. Warnings were ignored, and Australian communities, particularly rural and regional communities, are paying a huge price. Communities where equine influenza has been confirmed include Aberdeen, Berry, Gloucester, Maitland, Moree, Muswellbrook, Parkes, Raymond Terrace and Scone in New South Wales, and Warwick, Minden, Rosewood, Brookfield, Tamborine and Goondiwindi in Queensland.

Those closures affect the people in those communities. They are suffering real financial hardship as a result of this failure on the government’s watch. While the people involved in racing and other horse related activities in New South Wales are the ones that bear the brunt of the impact, the impact goes a long way beyond that. Because of revenue sharing arrangements within the racing industry, and because racing is closed down in New South Wales and Queensland, it impacts upon the states that still undertake race meetings. Many horse events have been cancelled around the country, even in states not subject to complete lockdown.

But there is an impact on the revenues of organisations that run other important events. The Melbourne and Geelong shows, which will take place in the next fortnight, for the first time will be without horses. There will be no horses, no show jumping, no Clydesdale teams. I acknowledge that the government has provided some assistance for a number of those affected by the outbreak. We support that assistance package, but we are asking the government to look more closely at the needs of communities and individuals beyond those that they have already compensated and to work closely with the industry.

Labor has consulted with industry and has listened to their concerns. This is an interesting fact: my home state of Victoria has a huge racing industry. In Victoria each year, there is a $3.8 billion gaming turnover. Half of that revenue in Victoria comes from Victorians betting on interstate races. If those interstate races are not happening, the betting does not happen and the revenue is down. Yet there has been no compensation for Victoria or the other states affected by it. That is a huge component in the context of Victoria. I do not know what the proportions are in the other states but I would expect they would be very large. Racing Victoria believe it will cost them up to $25 million this year. With racing shut down in New South Wales and Queensland, half of the main revenue stream for Victoria has disappeared.

So the government does have a clear responsibility. I would like to know from the minister who he has consulted with beyond New South Wales and Queensland—the ones that have been closed down—what those consultations have involved and why consideration has not been given to compensation for the other affected states. We urge the minister to not only address that question when he responds but also to actively engage himself in those sorts of discussions, as we have.

As I said before, it is absolutely vital that the inquiry finds out exactly how our quarantine defences were breached and how the influenza was able to spread. Yesterday, I asked a number of questions of the Prime Minister and the agriculture minister that were based on information provided to Labor by a number of Australians who have been concerned about the way in which the government has handled this matter. I asked the Prime Minister whether the government had received any warnings about the adequacy of its quarantine regime in preventing this equine influenza spread. He said he would check.

I know the Prime Minister has been a bit preoccupied over the last week, and one can excuse him somewhat because of the sorts of problems his own colleagues have been inflicting upon him—talking behind his back, withdrawing support, telling him he should go, and he then ignoring them. I can understand that in the last week—

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