Gavan O'Connor (Corio, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I congratulate the member for Forde on her contribution to this parliament and on the speech she has just given to it.

The Quarantine Amendment (Commission of Inquiry) Bill 2007 is legislation the opposition intends to support in the main. It forms part of the government’s response to the equine influenza outbreak that was revealed by the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry on 23 August 2007. According to the minister’s second reading speech:

The purpose of the Quarantine Amendment (Commission of Inquiry) Bill 2007 is to amend the Quarantine Act 1908 to allow for a comprehensive, independent inquiry into the August 2007 outbreak and spread of equine influenza in Australia.

The inquiry is to be headed by a former Justice of the High Court, Ian Callinan, and has been given the specific powers and protections of a royal commission, within the quarantine-specific context of the Quarantine Act. It is indeed a curious structure in which the inquiry will be undertaken. I am not sure that the minister has adequately explained to this parliament, to the industry and to the Australian community his reasons for going down this path. I am aware that the minister has stated that Commissioner Callinan will have access to quarantine officers already working on internal investigations into the outbreak and that independent people engaged by the Commonwealth can be made available to the commissioner to help him undertake his inquiry.

I note the presence in the chamber tonight of the honourable member for Corangamite. He knows more about sheep than he does about horses, but our respective histories go back a long way as far as horses are concerned. I could elaborate on that in this speech but I will not. Needless to say, on this side of the House we rode the horses. We rode the horses in our family, and I am privileged that my forebears appear in the Stockman’s Hall of Fame in Queensland. They developed their horse-riding skills, indeed their buck-jumping skills, down on the property of the honourable member for Corangamite. Yes, in some strange and twisted way the fates of the two members who represent the Geelong region in this place are entwined. But getting back to the speech—

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