Kerry O'Brien (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Primary Industries, Fisheries and Forestry) Share this | Hansard source

Do the terms which constrain those terms of reference that the minister can establish for Mr Callinan omit the reference to the spread of equine influenza for any purpose? Or should we understand the term ‘outbreak’ to refer to the discovery of the disease and its occurrence in a variety of different places? My question is: do these terms constrain the inquiry to what happened at Eastern Creek, or is Mr Callinan to be equipped with terms that will allow him to trace the spread of the disease upon establishment at Eastern Creek? We know, and the minister has said—and I assume he is being accurate and truthful—that the disease was discovered at Eastern Creek on or around 24 August. The purpose of my question is to understand why there is no reference to the spread of the disease in the terms of reference. Or should we understand that the term ‘outbreak’ takes us from the point of it first being observed to where it subsequently occurred in other parts of the states of New South Wales and Queensland at this stage?