In late 2007, the State Council of Rural Lands Protection Boards called public tenders for a wide-ranging independent review of the RLPB system. Primary objectives of this review were to critically analyse the organisation’s structure, administration and services to develop strategic recommendations that set the long-term direction of the system and enhance efficiency, effectiveness and relevance. Integrated Marketing Communications Pty Ltd (IMC) was selected to carry out the review.
While the report, release on June 06 2008, has made wide ranging recommendations – which include reducing the number of RLPB’s from 47 to 14, with savings of over $8 million – it alarmingly also recommends the registration and annual licensing of recreational livestock.
Of direct relevance to horse owners and the Horse Industry in NSW:
• The core business of the [RLPB] system going forward is to be NSW’s advisor, regulator and facilitator in animal health and in pest animal and insect management, operating within a local, state and national bio-security framework. (p8)
• The relevance and importance of these services has, if anything, strengthened in recent times, with the response to the recent Equine Influenza (EI) outbreak seen by many as an example that RLPB’s animal health responsibilities have grown beyond the traditional livestock classes of sheep and cattle. (p23)
• Provision of registration for horses and other non-commercial livestock classes as required. (Opportunities p30)
• Major recommendations include:
All non-commercial or recreational livestock in the new board regions should be included on RLPB Data bases and this livestock should be subject to an annual registration or licence fee. (P10) (p16)
A national horse industry database already exists in the form of the AHIC Horse Emergency Contact Database so the recommendation by IMC to expand RLPB’s database to include horses seem contradictory to their “cost saving” recommendations. Page 31 of the report states that “A major consideration for any new service should be its contribution to spreading RLPB’s fixed overhead costs, as well as meeting the operating costs and on -costs, for the new service activities.”
In other words, the report recommends that RLPB databases be extended to include horses and that horse owners be charged a yearly fee, or licence, for mandatory inclusion on this database. Even though a national database – which was successfully utilised by governments, DPI’s RLPB’s etc during the EI crisis – already exists.
This fee would be on top of regular horse association registrations and a national horse ID system (such as microchipping if / when introduced).
The recommendations come as an additional slug to NSW horse owners already burdened by losses from the EI crisis; rising fuel and feed costs, high mortgage rates and years of drought.
NSW Horse Owners can comment on the submission, which has already been tabled in NSW government by writing to the NSW Minister for Agriculture:
The Hon Ian Macdonald
Parliament House
Macquarie St
Sydney NSW 2000
Email: macdonald.office@macdonald.minister.msw.gov.au
Both the full and abridged versions of the IMC report can be viewed on the RLPB website.