Warren Truss (Wide Bay, National Party, Shadow Minister for Infrastructure and Transport and Local Government) Share this | Hansard source

I will get to the others. This is conditional support at the very best. It depends upon the government reviewing the collection method—the purpose of the bill—to make it fairer and more equitable. AHIC has written in support of the bill, even though many of their member organisations strongly oppose it. An AHIC survey of their member organisations, reported in July 2008, found that, while the majority of respondents supported the industry becoming a signatory to EADRA, the proposed collection method based on horse registration was not supported. Again, the basic fundamental of the bill was not supported by the peak industry organisations. Individual AHIC members have also expressed strong opposition to the bill. In fact, as little as two out of 16 of their member organisations have indicated support, and both of those have ways in which they can get around paying their fees. They can register their horses internationally and, therefore, avoid their obligations to the Australian levy arrangements.

The Queensland Horse Council general meeting on 15 July 2008 passed the following motion:

The QHC is not in favour of signing an emergency disease response agreement or committing to any associated levy at this time.

The National Campdraft Council of Australia opposes the signing of EADRA due to the financial impost that would be placed upon their members.

Pleasure horses and hobby horses are not the industry. The industry, in this instance, is those who support them—such as the farriers, the feed suppliers, the vets, the events operators and the track equipment suppliers. They would be the ones who would probably bear the greatest financial burden under any disease outbreak.

The recent EI outbreak highlighted that EI caused significant social disruption as well as economic impacts. The EI outbreak also highlighted the inequities inherent in the government’s proposed collection methodology. The Callinan report found that, while the cause of the EI outbreak could not be definitively determined, the most likely cause was a failing within quarantine processes. Under the proposed bill, 80 per cent of the cost to industry of the EI outbreak would have been passed to the pleasure performance and hobby sector, with only 20 per cent to the racing sector, and most horses in Australia would not be covered by the levy collection arrangements at all. The pleasure performance and hobby sector, as the minister would well know, were somewhat critical of the assistance measures that were provided to the industry following the EI outbreak and also of the emphasis that was placed on the racing sector when it came to introducing vaccines to eliminate the disease. So priority for eradicating the disease was given to a sector that will contribute a very small proportion of the levy income.

It can also be strongly argued that some sectors of the industry have a greater capacity to pay than others. We would all recognise that people who own a pony for their children often have a much lower capacity to pay than those in the multimillion-dollar horse racing and thoroughbred breeding sector. This is a major industry. I think it employs 80,000 people. So it has substantial substance. It is one of the great Australian industries. Yet it would contribute the same amount per horse as someone who owns a pet pony. I do not think that those sorts of arrangements can be characterised as being fair.

We have learnt a lot from the EI outbreak, but I do not think that, with this legislation, the government has learnt from that experience. The legislation was brought in some little time ago and, correctly, the government delayed the debate until after the Callinan report. But there have been no changes to the bill as a result of the Callinan report and, clearly, the issues associated with the way in which the levy is to be collected have not been resolved. The government’s only action was for the minister to write to the horse owners on 11 June, where he directly threatened horse owners by refusing further assistance in the event of a disease outbreak such as EI if the industry failed to sign up to the Emergency Animal Disease Response Agreement.

Let me repeat again: I think the industry should be in the agreement, like all other sectors that may face a disease entry at some time. They should be in there, but the mechanism to collect the levy has got to be seen to be fair and equitable. I do not think that what is being proposed in this legislation enjoys any of those characteristics. It is for that reason that the opposition will not be supporting the bill. Instead, it will be our plan in the Senate to refer this matter for further investigation. We want to look particularly at the level of support for the proposed collection mechanism within industry groups. We need to investigate alternative levy collection methods. I have already pointed out that, in my view, this bill does not pass the test. There are other ideas out there. For instance, the concept of a levy on horseshoes was debated and enjoyed quite a degree of support. I acknowledge that it also had some deficiencies. What we are probably going to need is some kind of multitiered collection which also recognises the capacity of an industry to pay. By using a series of collection mechanisms, it might be possible to introduce a greater degree of fairness and equity in the system. We also need to investigate the suitability of the EADRA collection guidelines as they apply to the unique nature of the Australian horse industry. It is clear that we do need to do a lot more work on devising a system that will be successful for the industry, that will be fair to all and that will collect an appropriate amount of funds in the event of there being a requirement to be involved in a disease eradication program. I do not believe that this bill meets those criteria. So, whilst supporting the involvement of the equine industry in the disease eradication agreement, as we support the involvement of other industries, the levy mechanism must be fair. This bill fails that test.

Debate adjourned.

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