The Sports Factor

The highly anticipated Callinan report has just been released into what led to the outbreak of equine influenza in Australia.

Transcript

This transcript was typed from a recording of the program. The ABC cannot guarantee its complete accuracy because of the possibility of mishearing and occasional difficulty in identifying speakers.

Mick O'Regan: Hello, and welcome to the program.

According to one of Chairman Mao's handy sayings, women hold up half the sky.

However, when it comes to the Olympics, the Australian team might be expecting substantially more from some of its female members.

This week we'll hear from one of the young women in a good position to have a memorable Olympics: Emily Halliday from the Hockeyroos.

And later in the show we'll find out what went wrong with the plan to save the Sydney Kings basketball team.

Mike Wrublewski: The best option for him would be to sell the licence to me, and the IP of the Kings to me and the court to me so that I could try and at least talk to the NBL and find a way to keep the Kings alive. And he did that. But the NBL in their wisdom have decided he either pays the bill or we cancel the licence, and that's what they've done.

Mick O'Regan: So you can't take over that bill, your offer doesn't extend to paying that?

Mike Wrublewski: Well I can't. I can't and I won't, because as soon as I pay them any money, they become a preferential creditor, then every other creditor of the organisation, which can be anything up to $2-million, comes after me, and I can't do that.

Mick O'Regan: So basically Firepower aren't in a position to pay their debts, and you're not in a position to take them on?

Mike Wrublewski: Exactly.

Mick O'Regan: Mike Wrublewski and the overthrow of the Kings a bit later.

First this week to the release of the Callinan report into what went wrong with quarantine and bio-security procedures that led to the outbreak of equine influenza in Australia.

Now what's immediately clear from the release of the report, is that the Minister wants change.

Tony Burke: We have to drive cultural change in our quarantine and bio-security systems, so that Australians can have public confidence in them. The report found clear inadequacies in Australia's quarantine system. Best described in Commissioner Callinan's own words where he said, 'What I describes bespeaks an organisation that lacked clear lines of communication, between those responsible for formulating procedures and work instructions, and those responsible for implementing them.'

If you ever wanted to find a reason for needing to drive cultural change in our quarantine services, it's this. When a former High Court judge refers to systemic failures, under-staffed, not adequately funded and resourced, inadequacies and breakdowns, an impenetrable maze of bureaucratic confusion, a place of ignorance, misunderstandings, misconceptions about fundamental matters, absence of clear communication and assumptions, and inertia, inefficiency, lack of diligence, incompetence and distraction by unproductive bureaucratic processes, all played a part.

When you hear that, the arguments for cultural change are clear.

Mick O'Regan: The Federal Agriculture Minister, Tony Burke, speaking at the press conference following the release of the Callinan Report.

The report of course was widely anticipated, yet for people in the industry, it held few surprises.

Throughout the equine industry, from the billions of dollars invested in racing, to the livelihoods of those in the pleasure horse industry, to the aspirations of Olympic riders, attention was focused relentlessly on the operating procedures of the Eastern Creek Quarantine Station, where most industry observers suggested the outbreak had occurred.

Now already, one legal firm in Queensland has indicated that it will launch a class action on behalf of people affected by the outbreak, and the subsequent lockdown of horses in affected areas.

Back in early May on The Sports Factor, we spoke to the Chief Executive of Racing New South Wales, Peter V'Landys, about the progress of the report, which was then completed but still in the hands of the Minister.

Well, Peter V'Landys joins me again on the line. Peter, welcome to the program.

Peter V'Landys: Thank you very much.

Mick O'Regan: Peter, in a word, how would you sum up the Callinan Report?

Peter V'Landys: Well, two words: not surprised. We always expected that it was a complete breakdown in the protocols by AQIS; their oversight was disgraceful, totally negligent, and the only positive to come out of this really was that it was a disease that affected horses and wasn't really fatal. What if it was a more serious disease that reached the community like foot and mouth, or mad cow disease, or bird flu? AQIS oversees all of those areas, and we were very fortunate that it came out as equine influenza and affected respiratory systems of horses and not human beings. That's the only positive. But we always knew that there was something wrong in the State of Denmark as far as Eastern Creek and the protocols at the airports were concerned.

Mick O'Regan: Because throughout the recommendations, the words 'check', 'inspect' and 'audit' pop up again and again. It's a general tightening that Mr Justice Callinan has called for, isn't it?

Peter V'Landys: Absolutely. I mean some of the protocols that were being breached had people walking in and out of the quarantine centre with no bio-security whatsoever. They didn't shower after they left, they didn't change their clothes, they didn't even wash their hands. They didn't even have the facilities to be able to do it. So it was disgraceful, what was occurring. And as I said, it was just very fortunate that it was equine influenza and something not more serious.

Mick O'Regan: Now there's going to be a special position created, Inspector General for the Importation of Horses, which is a terrific title; is it a title you fancy yourself, Peter?

Peter V'Landys: No I'm quite happy thanks.

Mick O'Regan: How important is that role going to be?

Peter V'Landys: Look, at the end of day, it's all human factor. People make mistakes, if this person makes a mistake, or in two or three years he becomes complacent, just like what's happened in the past. This is all complacency, not following protocols. It's all human negligence. All of Mr Callinan's recommendations are very welcome, but they're not going to be 100% foolproof; you're still relying on the human factor, and when you're relying on that, people do become negligent.

Mick O'Regan: And so obviously you need those procedures cross-checking each other. Just on the financial implications of both individuals and corporations or companies that might have lost money because of the equine influenza outbreak, obviously Mr Callinan is identifying negligence, which will facilitate people seeking compensation from AQIS?

Peter V'Landys: Well look, you couldn't ask for a better affidavit or witness statement from a former High Court Judge, who's found that AQIS were totally negligent, was completely damning on them, and now people who were financially affected have got the best piece of evidence to seek compensation. There will be no doubt that there will be elements of the racing industry, the pleasure horse industry, and other people that are associated with horses, that will be seeking compensation and this will tie the courts up for quite a while.

Mick O'Regan: So how soon would you be launching an action for compensation?

Peter V'Landys: Look we need to sit down and absorb the report. It's 800 pages long, we need to make an informed decision. Some of our ramifications won't occur for three years. There were 20% of our mares weren't served this year; that is a three year lag time before they race, it takes 12 months in the pregnancy and two years before they race, so in three years we're going to have 20% less 2-year-olds racing, and then that has a multiplier effect after that. It's going to take a long time to measure the financial consequences of this.

Our wagering revenues will go down in three or four years because we won't have as a big a field sizes. It's going to be many, many millions of dollars, and we need to sit down now and work it out. We did get a $235-million assistance package from the Federal government; that will be taken into account, but I'm sure that won't cover the losses we've incurred and will incur in the future.

Mick O'Regan: Now Peter, finally, I understand that it is 800 pages long, the report, and it's only just come out, but as far as you're concerned has this issue been addressed properly and at least procedurally, the right factors been put into place?

Peter V'Landys: Absolutely. I think that the government's done the right thing in having the independent report, or the previous government, and now this government is going to implement all the recommendations. We want to go one step further, and we want our own risk management policy and that is to vaccinate all our horses, our racing stock, so if there's a human negligence in the future, at least we're covered, and expand that to include the competition horses, you don't have to vaccinate pleasure horses, you just need to vaccinate those horses who do the most travelling, and if we are vaccinated, it'll certainly eradicate the disease much quicker if it does spread again, because the majority of horses that travel are our horses.

If it wasn't for vaccination this time around, I don't believe we would have eradicated the disease up to this point. I think the disease would have been in Victoria and possibly South Australia and as far as Western Australia. It was spreading like a bushfire, it was only after vaccination started that it stopped it to a halt. And unfortunately the same bureaucrats that stuck their head up against vaccination to eradicate it, are now the same ones that won't let us have a risk management policy in ensuring that we protect our racing stock in the future.

Mick O'Regan: So would you expect a whole new senior executive for AQIS?

Peter V'Landys: Absolutely. I mean these people have been grossly negligent; they've caused an enormous amount of emotional and financial strain on our 40,000-plus participants, there's 500,000 horses in New South Wales, and probably a similar amount in Queensland. They've all got owners. If you multiply that, there's a lot of people that have been affected. There were people that were stranded for 8 and 9 and 10 weeks in caravan parks because they couldn't move. They couldn't move themselves or their horses. There was a lot of pain that's been suffered and someone's got to be accountable.

Mick O'Regan: Peter V'Landys, thank you very much for speaking to The Sports Factor.

Peter V'Landys: My pleasure.

Mick O'Regan: The Chief Executive Officer of Racing New South Wales, Peter V'Landys.

Guests

Peter V'Landys
Chief Executive Officer of Racing New South Wales.

Further Information

The Callinan Report

Presenter

Mick O'Regan

Producer

Andrew Davies