Posts
Patrick Walters and Tony Arrold June 13, 2008
AUSTRALIA'S quarantine regime faces a major overhaul - and a senior public servant has stood aside - in the wake of a damning report into the horse flu outbreak last year that cost the nation's equestrian industry up to $1billion.
Agriculture Minister Tony Burke said yesterday the report by retired High Court judge Ian Callinan QC raised serious questions about the operations of the Australian Quarantine and Inspection Service and Australia's broader biosecurity regime.
Stephen Hunter, the executive director of AQIS and a deputy secretary in the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry has stood aside from his AQIS job in the wake of the report.
The report into the equine influenza outbreak has been referred to the Public Service Commissioner to determine if any disciplinary action isrequired against bureaucrats involved in administering Australia's quarantine regime.
But Mr Burke said he retained full confidence in the head of the Agriculture Department, Conall O'Connell.
"I have no doubt ... the Public Service Commissioner will be able to make recommendations and Dr O'Connell will make decisions of his own. Staffing decisions will be made by the department. There won't be ministerial interference in that," he said.
Mr Burke said the Government had accepted all 38 of the recommendations made by Mr Callinan, including the appointment of an Inspector-General of Horse Importation, to audit horse quarantine facilities for horses exported to Australia. With the EI outbreak costing the industry an estimated $1billion, racing figures yesterday said the report confirmed widely held suspicions about the failings of the quarantine system.
Bart Cummings, Australia's most celebrated racehorse trainer, said he dearly hoped the outbreak turned out to be a "one-off".
"We're told (by the report) that there was negligence at Eastern Creek (quarantine facility) and a breakdown of protocols. They've got to get that all right now. I don't want to see it again." Along with fellow trainers at Sydney's Randwick racecourse, Cummings is still counting the costs of the three-month ban on Sydney racing caused last year by the nation's first crisis with the exotic disease. In his report, Mr Callinan found the equine influenza virus almost certainly entered Australia for the first time ever in August last year following the arrival of a consignment of four horses from Japan at the Eastern Creek quarantine station in western Sydney. Mr Callinan found the "most likely explanation" for the equine flu virus's escape from infected horses at Eastern Creek was by means of "a contaminated person or equipment leaving the quarantine station". Within a fortnight the virus spread across NSW and Queensland, shutting down the racing industry in the two states until December 1. It also led to an abrupt cancellation in a host of equestrian events in NSW and Queensland, including vital Olympic Games training. Mr Burke said the report showed AQIS lacked clear lines of communication and was a "maze of bureaucratic confusion", wracked by inertia. AQIS was a "place of ignorance, misunderstandings, misconceptions about fundamental matters". The Eastern Creek facility - the largest government-owned animal quarantine station in Australia - was understaffed and not adequately funded to discharge its proper functions. It was not manned 24 hours a day, closed at weekends and lacked adequate biosecurity facilities including showers and changing facilities for grooms, vets and farriers. Mr Burke said the report had found "clear inadequacies" in the quarantine system which will cost at least $1.3 million to fix. The federal Government has already spent $342 million eradicating the virus and assisting individuals, organisations and businesses. Mr Callinan made no findings on legal liability but identified fundamental management and biosecurity failures within AQIS. Racing NSW chief executive Peter V'Landys said the report's findings were of "very little surprise to us". "We always knew it was a complete breakdown of the quarantine system," he said. "We always knew it was the quarantine system and that it came out of Eastern Creek." Mr V'Landys and Thoroughbred Breeders Australia chairman John Messara said they would study the report before considering legal action. However, Gold Coast-based legal firm Attwood Marshall Lawyers yesterday confirmed a class action was "imminent". Attwood Marshall partner Jeff Garrett said his firm had received more than 350 inquiries from potential claimants from 164 towns and cities across the country. Mr Burke said he had no doubt that compensation claims would be tested in the courts. He said under a new regime flowing from the report's recommendations, horses would now be tested for EI before travelling to Australia and while still in quarantine after arrival. Existing airport and quarantine station facilities would be thoroughly reviewed. "We have to drive cultural change in our quarantine and biosecurity systems so that Australians can have public confidence in them," Mr Burke said. Mr Callinan said it was unlikely that it would ever be possible to calculate accurately the total cost of the outbreak of horse flu. Mr Burke said he had appointed the former head of the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet, Peter Shergold, to oversee the reform of the quarantine regime. Dr Shergold will report regularly to Mr Burke over the next two years. Cummings said one of the hardest aspects of the outbreak was giving up the chance, in November, to win the nation's most prized race, the Melbourne Cup, for a 12th time. The 60 horses stranded at his Randwick stables included Viewed and Empires Choice. Viewed came back to racing this year and progressed superbly under Cummings' guidance to the point of winning the $300,000 Brisbane Cup last Monday by seven lengths. Empires Choice was born to win a Melbourne Cup, having the 1988 Cup winner Empire Rose as his grandmother. But the horse retired to stud this year striking a wet track on his first run back after three months idle, injuring a ligament. "He was my opportunity lost," Cummings said of last year's Melbourne Cup.
AUSTRALIA'S quarantine regime faces a major overhaul - and a senior public servant has stood aside - in the wake of a damning report into the horse flu outbreak last year that cost the nation's equestrian industry up to $1billion.
Agriculture Minister Tony Burke said yesterday the report by retired High Court judge Ian Callinan QC raised serious questions about the operations of the Australian Quarantine and Inspection Service and Australia's broader biosecurity regime.
Stephen Hunter, the executive director of AQIS and a deputy secretary in the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry has stood aside from his AQIS job in the wake of the report.
The report into the equine influenza outbreak has been referred to the Public Service Commissioner to determine if any disciplinary action isrequired against bureaucrats involved in administering Australia's quarantine regime.
But Mr Burke said he retained full confidence in the head of the Agriculture Department, Conall O'Connell.
"I have no doubt ... the Public Service Commissioner will be able to make recommendations and Dr O'Connell will make decisions of his own. Staffing decisions will be made by the department. There won't be ministerial interference in that," he said.
Mr Burke said the Government had accepted all 38 of the recommendations made by Mr Callinan, including the appointment of an Inspector-General of Horse Importation, to audit horse quarantine facilities for horses exported to Australia. With the EI outbreak costing the industry an estimated $1billion, racing figures yesterday said the report confirmed widely held suspicions about the failings of the quarantine system.
Bart Cummings, Australia's most celebrated racehorse trainer, said he dearly hoped the outbreak turned out to be a "one-off".
"We're told (by the report) that there was negligence at Eastern Creek (quarantine facility) and a breakdown of protocols. They've got to get that all right now. I don't want to see it again." Along with fellow trainers at Sydney's Randwick racecourse, Cummings is still counting the costs of the three-month ban on Sydney racing caused last year by the nation's first crisis with the exotic disease. In his report, Mr Callinan found the equine influenza virus almost certainly entered Australia for the first time ever in August last year following the arrival of a consignment of four horses from Japan at the Eastern Creek quarantine station in western Sydney. Mr Callinan found the "most likely explanation" for the equine flu virus's escape from infected horses at Eastern Creek was by means of "a contaminated person or equipment leaving the quarantine station". Within a fortnight the virus spread across NSW and Queensland, shutting down the racing industry in the two states until December 1. It also led to an abrupt cancellation in a host of equestrian events in NSW and Queensland, including vital Olympic Games training. Mr Burke said the report showed AQIS lacked clear lines of communication and was a "maze of bureaucratic confusion", wracked by inertia. AQIS was a "place of ignorance, misunderstandings, misconceptions about fundamental matters". The Eastern Creek facility - the largest government-owned animal quarantine station in Australia - was understaffed and not adequately funded to discharge its proper functions. It was not manned 24 hours a day, closed at weekends and lacked adequate biosecurity facilities including showers and changing facilities for grooms, vets and farriers. Mr Burke said the report had found "clear inadequacies" in the quarantine system which will cost at least $1.3 million to fix. The federal Government has already spent $342 million eradicating the virus and assisting individuals, organisations and businesses. Mr Callinan made no findings on legal liability but identified fundamental management and biosecurity failures within AQIS. Racing NSW chief executive Peter V'Landys said the report's findings were of "very little surprise to us". "We always knew it was a complete breakdown of the quarantine system," he said. "We always knew it was the quarantine system and that it came out of Eastern Creek." Mr V'Landys and Thoroughbred Breeders Australia chairman John Messara said they would study the report before considering legal action. However, Gold Coast-based legal firm Attwood Marshall Lawyers yesterday confirmed a class action was "imminent". Attwood Marshall partner Jeff Garrett said his firm had received more than 350 inquiries from potential claimants from 164 towns and cities across the country. Mr Burke said he had no doubt that compensation claims would be tested in the courts. He said under a new regime flowing from the report's recommendations, horses would now be tested for EI before travelling to Australia and while still in quarantine after arrival. Existing airport and quarantine station facilities would be thoroughly reviewed. "We have to drive cultural change in our quarantine and biosecurity systems so that Australians can have public confidence in them," Mr Burke said. Mr Callinan said it was unlikely that it would ever be possible to calculate accurately the total cost of the outbreak of horse flu. Mr Burke said he had appointed the former head of the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet, Peter Shergold, to oversee the reform of the quarantine regime. Dr Shergold will report regularly to Mr Burke over the next two years. Cummings said one of the hardest aspects of the outbreak was giving up the chance, in November, to win the nation's most prized race, the Melbourne Cup, for a 12th time. The 60 horses stranded at his Randwick stables included Viewed and Empires Choice. Viewed came back to racing this year and progressed superbly under Cummings' guidance to the point of winning the $300,000 Brisbane Cup last Monday by seven lengths. Empires Choice was born to win a Melbourne Cup, having the 1988 Cup winner Empire Rose as his grandmother. But the horse retired to stud this year striking a wet track on his first run back after three months idle, injuring a ligament. "He was my opportunity lost," Cummings said of last year's Melbourne Cup.
No comments:
Post a Comment