News this weekend that another major equestrian event has been forced to cancel highlights the cost of the Equine Influenza (EI) outbreak to the whole equestrian community in NSW, Queensland and the ACT.
The Canberra International Horse Trials committee has announced that its major competition – scheduled for 29-30 September – would not go ahead.
The Canberra event is part of a national horse trials calendar that has been thrown into disarray by the EI outbreak, undermining Olympic preparations and jeopardising the livelihoods of thousands.
ACT Senator Kate Lundy, Shadow Minister for Sport and Recreation, has watched the Canberra event rebuild from the ashes after a bushfire destroyed most of its cross country course in 2001.
Senator Lundy visited the event in 2006, when the volunteer committee was proudly hosting its first internationally recognised event.
This year it was set to take another step, up to the highest level of international competition outside of the Olympics and World Cup.
The event would have attracted around 300 horses and 1000 people to Canberra for the weekend, many of whom would have stayed in hotels, eaten in restaurants and even spent a few extra days in the ACT to check out Floriade.
The loss of this economic, as well as sporting, benefit is further evidence of the widespread impact when Australia’s quarantine system breaks down.
Labor has called on the Howard Government to immediately establish an independent inquiry into how its quarantine system failed to prevent EI from entering Australia.
The equestrian community is paying a high price for this failure and deserves some answers.
For further information, Contact Taryn Langdon on 0417 148 059
