AHIC has received the accompanying letter from Minister Tony Burke informing the horse industry that there would be no financial obligation related to the current emergency response to the Equine Influenza incursion in August 2007.
The Minister makes it perfectly clear in his letter of 11 June 2008 that any future government assistance for emergency diseases in the horse industry are entirely dependent on the horse industry becoming a signatory to the Emergency Animal Disease Response Agreement (EADRA) as follows:
"... I must emphasise that the circumstances surrounding this emergency response are unique and this decision should not be considered as setting a precedent of any kind. No future assistance for emergencies will be provided until the horse industry becomes a full signatory to the EADRA ..."
... and further ...
"... I would be most concerned if a future response to an emergency horse disease was jeopardised because the industry had not signed EADRA ..."
This letter from Minister Burke makes the importance of the horse industry becoming a signatory to EADRA more clear than ever.
Without this contractual assurance of government assistance to mount an emergency response to a disease incursion, the industry will be left on its own - and the implications of that are all too obvious for the future of the industry.
Read the letter from Federal Agriculture Minister Tony Burke.