Eradication of Equine Influenza and the Horse Disease Levy Bills

The announcement from QLD that testing shows no indication of any residual Equine Influenza (EI) infection is welcome news to the national horse industry. Combined with the eradication from NSW this has been a significant achievement for the industry and government partnership that has co-operated so well since August 2007. Let’s hope that this close co-operation will continue for the benefit of the Australian horse industry long into the future.

The emergency response and eradication program in NSW and QLD has taken about 29 weeks since last August. About 80,000 horses on 10,000 properties (IP’s) became infected with EI and almost 270,000 square kilometres of the Australian mainland was affected. In the order of 160,000 horses were vaccinated as part of the control measures. The cost of the emergency response will be in the order of $100 million. These numbers are considerably higher than had been predicted in previous scenario analyses.

This means that the cost of eradication will be about $1250 per infected horse, $10,000 per infected property and $370 per square kilometre. Additional costs were in separate vaccination programs run parallel with the eradication efforts and the costs of those programs are unknown. The human cost and the long term effects on the national horse industry are large and inestimable with any degree of precision. Preliminary estimates of the cost to the horse industry are well into the hundreds of millions of dollars. Commonwealth and State Government assistance programs have provided about $250 million.

AHIC has been concerned for many years about the possible effects of an EI incursion. There have been moves towards the horse industry joining in the Emergency Animal Disease Response Agreement (EADRA) going back more than 10 years. Being a part of EADRA ensures mobilisation of government resources and infrastructure to assist an industry deal with an exotic disease emergency. Without that vital government involvement, the horse industry would not have been able to mount any effective response on its own. Furthermore, enactment of emergency legislation enables emergency supplies of vaccine to be sourced when needed.

To become a signatory to EADRA involves the horse industry having in place a levy mechanism. This is to ensure that any industry liability towards the cost of an emergency response can be collected and repaid to the tax payer who covers the costs up front. On-time payments are important to ensure that the prolonged endeavours over many months of the emergency response can be financed in a timely manner. Inability to meet financial liabilities during an emergency response would mean a less certain and less effective outcome for both industry and governments.

There is no easy answer to what might be an appropriate levy for the horse industry.

Many suggestions have been made over the past 10 years, but most do not meet the necessary guidelines for an emergency disease levy. In 2006 after a national information and consultation program, the Australian horse industry supported a levy on horses to be collected at the time of first registration after the emergency had been declared over. AHIC sent thousands of pieces of information to the national horse industry, wrote to more than 100 organisations that record or register horses, and advertised in the national main stream media and horse specific media. From all those messages, only 18 replies were received and of those only 3 raised any concerns.

On that basis in November 2006 the Department of Agriculture Fisheries and Forestry (DAFF) started the process to have the appropriate legislation put into Federal Parliament. Last year the introduction of EI and calling the Federal election further delayed the introduction of the Horse Disease Levy Bills until now.

It seems that under current circumstances in the aftermath of the EI emergency the horse industry has had second thoughts about the 2006 consultation process. The suggestion for the levy at the time of registration after the emergency now seems to be unacceptable to many.

In response to these processes, Minister Burke has listened to industry concerns and delayed Parliamentary debate on these Bills. This will allow time for further consultation between government and industry to ensure that this prolonged consultation process can be concluded for mutual benefit.

AHIC met with Minister Burke on Thursday 13 March and the Minister is willing to undertake further consultation. AHIC also spoke with the DAFF on 14 March and there will be a re-examination of the wording of the Bills. AHIC will continue to liaise with Minister Burke and DAFF for a mutually beneficial outcome.

The horse industry will need to consolidate its efforts and come up with a working solution to ensure that these Bills go through for the benefit of the national horse industry. Without this assistance the horse industry will be unable to counteract any disease incursion, and many of those diseases could be much worse that EI.

Information sent to the national horse industry in 2006 has been put up again on the AHIC web site.

AHIC seeks any input on a way forward to finalise a levy mechanism for the horse industry to become a signatory to EADRA. AHIC welcomes any constructive input about revision of the wording of the Bills from organisations and individuals.