[Greens-Media] Government puts cart before horse on horse flu levy

[Hollo, Tim (Sen C. Milne)]

Government puts cart before horse on horse flu levy

Canberra, Thursday 13 November 2008

The Australian Greens will not commit to supporting the Horse Disease
Response Levy until draft regulations have been released clarifying what
impact the levy will have on community and recreational owners and
riders.

The report of the Senate Inquiry into the levy was tabled today, with
the Government majority concluding that "it is too early to condemn the
proposed legislation without consideration of the regulations that will
follow". Senator Milne tabled a dissenting report arguing the opposite,
that "it is too early to support the proposed legislation without
consideration of the regulations that will follow".

"The Government is putting the cart before the horse, trying to push
through a levy when the community has no idea how it will be
implemented," said Australian Greens Deputy Leader, Senator Christine
Milne.

"A levy may be appropriate, and compulsory registration of all horses is
certainly important to help authorities in the event of another horse
disease outbreak. But the devil will be in the detail and we have to see
that detail before any decision can be made.

"Community recreational owners and riders have raised concerned about
costs and how onerous the collection of the levy will be. Without seeing
how the regulations address these concerns in an equitable way, we
cannot support the levy.

"There is no doubt that the equine influenza outbreak was crippling for
the horse industry in Australia and devastating for owners and riders.
Australia clearly must be better equipped financially and
administratively to deal with such disease outbreaks in future.

The report can be downloaded from:
http://www.aph.gov.au/senate/committee/rrat_ctte/horse_disease/index.htm


Tim Hollo 
Media and Communications Adviser 
Senator Christine Milne 
Australian Greens Deputy Leader
ph: (02) 6277 3588 
mob: 0437 587 562
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