Joe Ludwig (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Manager of Opposition Business in the Senate) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on this motion. What is clear is that the federal government has provided $110 million for the equine influenza assistance package. What isn’t clear is whether that is sufficient, whether that is accepted by the industry and whether that will in fact be able to deal with the seriousness of the outbreak to date. We will have an opportunity to hear from the government about those matters, and we do need the government to explain its role. It should not hide behind an inquiry such as the one that has been announced. It needs to be able to detail in fact what have been the events that have occurred and what the government’s role and actions have been.

Rather than apportioning blame this government should be rolling up its sleeves, putting its support behind those affected by the outbreak and taking the matter seriously. What we have not had in this area to date is a responsible government. It is the government’s responsibility to determine what the rescue package should be and how to help people who find themselves in dire financial circumstances because of a ‘failure’, as I will call it, in Australia’s quarantine system. I do not want to apportion blame. The inquiry will determine where the fault lies in this matter.

As is so often the case, it is clear that things have now been left up to the states, to Queensland and New South Wales, to cope with the fallout after this quarantine breach. That is what is happening: while the federal government is passing the buck and the federal Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, Mr McGauran, is accusing Queensland of responding too slowly to the EI threat, Queensland has been putting its money where its mouth is. Queensland has been employing people to take on the role and investing thousands of dollars and man-hours endeavouring to contain this devastating disease.

Let’s look at the actions of Mr McGauran. How seriously should we take him? This is a minister who communicates via media statements but cannot get his facts right. Instead of adhering to the national and industry approved AUSVETPLAN procedures, the minister right up to the last minute maintained in the media, in the Melbourne Age on Friday, 24 August, that ‘we are determined that it get no further than the gates of the quarantine centre’.

We now know that it has got further than that. Sometimes it is best simply to say nothing at all, quite frankly. Again, on 5 September, when the states were battling equine influenza and all the federal government had come up with was a $4 million assistance package, the foot went back in the mouth. Mr McGauran accused Queensland of failing to act on the national standstill put in place on 25 August. He was wrong. Let’s look at the facts: Queensland did act, along with all states and territories which took part in the discussion that led to the decision on the national standstill. He then said that the lockdown at Morgan Park, Warwick, was ‘put in place the following day’. Wrong again! The fact is that, despite there being no definitive proof that EI was at Morgan Park on 25 August, the Queensland Chief Veterinary Officer quite rightly erred on the side of caution and quarantined the park that afternoon. I am told that equine influenza has now affected more than 80 properties in Queensland. It is costing the horse industries, not just the racing industries, in Queensland and New South Wales tens of millions of dollars. It will affect those industries for months, possibly even years, to come.

It is all very well for the federal government to ride in—I was going to say on a horse but in this instance they are more likely to be on a motorbike—and say, ‘We’re here and we’ve got our taxpayer funded chequebook with us.’ That is what they said. Would it not have been better for them to have said, ‘It’s entered our country and we need to do something about it’? I know what the horse industry would prefer: they would prefer a government that are honest with them.

Turning to the inquiry still to come, I hope the minister has the terms of reference and can table them today so that the industry can see what they are. The government have had quite a while to provide the terms of reference. I hope they are also going to explain that they have consulted with the industry about the terms of reference, that they have worked through those terms of reference and will be able to table them as soon as possible so that the industry can see what they are. This is a difficult area, but what needs to happen is that those terms of reference— (Time expired)