Page 2184 - Week 08 - Tuesday, 28 August 2007
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To date, thankfully, there has been no indication within the ACT of any equine influenza. Of course, we are hoping that we can maintain that status. The ACT Director of Veterinary Hygiene continues to participate in the national Consultative Committee on Emergency Animal Disease. That committee remains of the view that a national standstill of all horses and related products should remain in place to minimise the further spread of this disease.
The recommendation of the committee will be subject to the National Management Group exotic animal disease endorsement. That is a group that is chaired by the commonwealth and includes officials from all the states and territories. The Director of Veterinary Hygiene within the ACT remains in regular contact with his counterparts, most particularly in New South Wales and Queensland, and the ACT local disease control centre similarly remains in touch.
The ACT Director of Veterinary Hygiene has provided regular advice to all vets within the ACT and to all interested industry parties. There has been extensive media information prepared and disseminated, and Canberra Connect is continuing to provide ongoing information, particularly to those members of the public who are recreational horse owners and who, of course, are quite rightly concerned about the health of their horses.
MS PORTER: I ask a supplementary question. Chief Minister, what impact has the outbreak of equine influenza had on the racing industry and horse owners in Canberra? What is the importance of the industry to the ACT economy?
MR STANHOPE: Suffice to say that the racing industry within the ACT is a very important industry for a range of reasons, and that is not economically, but I believe it adds very much to the vibrancy and the nature of the city of Canberra and is a much supported and loved feature of Canberra. Our three race clubs, the thoroughbreds, the trots and the dogs, are well supported and are a very significant part of our community and, as an added bonus, provide a significant economic impact.
Indeed, in 2001, during the last assessment of the importance of Canberra racing to the ACT economy, it was shown that the ACT racing industry at that time, in 2001, contributed $25 million in gross territory product and, at that time, employed the equivalent of 148 people. In fact, each day there is a race meeting at the Canberra race club, 70 people are employed. There are 18 Canberra-based trainers and 20 harness trainers, and a significant number of people, of course, are employed within stables and within businesses that rely on those stables—indeed rely on the racing industry—and that rely very much on the very high levels of private ownership of horses within the ACT.
ACTTAB employs around 100 people and generates over $160 million on racing a year. There are 23 bookmakers with licences in the ACT and there are, of course, a significant number of people who depend in one way or another on this industry and on horses. That is a broad outline of the significance of the industry. I think in terms of direct cost to the economy it is difficult to measure at this stage. But to date the most significant cost would have been the $1 million reduction in turnover that ACTTAB suffered on Saturday.
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