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

I remind the minister that my question went to the actions or inaction of the government prior to the outbreak, and I suggest that even this government can answer questions about what it did or did not do without an inquiry telling it what it did or did not do. Can the minister guarantee that the absence of these basic precautions like wearing protective clothing and disinfecting footwear did not facilitate the spread of equine influenza from the Eastern Creek facility? Why did it take this devastating equine influenza outbreak for the government to put these very basic arrangements in place at what is supposed to be a secure quarantining facility?