John Murphy (Lowe, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary to the Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Hansard source

And I know that the member for Corangamite would understand this very well in his electorate. In 2004 and 2005 the former Australian Racing Board Chairman, Mr Andrew Ramsden, warned then Minister Truss that a ‘quarantine breakdown’ would be the only way equine influenza could enter Australia, potentially causing ‘catastrophic economic consequences’. At the time, the ARB’s concerns included the quarantine risks from the use of private vets to inspect imported horses at the expense of the Australian Quarantine and Inspection Service. The ARB cited an example in South Africa where private vets had played a prominent role in a quarantine breakdown, and there was an outbreak in 2003. The government dismissed those concerns and, in a perfunctory fashion that many stakeholders have become accustomed to, the government suggested all imported horses would be under the ‘direct control of an AQIS veterinarian’. Whether this has actually been the case is unknown.

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