John Murphy (Lowe, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary to the Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Hansard source

I certainly have. You were not listening. I am a proud member of the Australian Jockey Club. I know more about the racing industry than you do, member for Corangamite—with great respect. The minister must immediately answer whether any private vets paid for by importers inspected imported horses without an AQIS vet present. If the minister will not answer that, the terms of reference of this inquiry must be broad enough to allow Commissioner Callinan to do so. Indeed, this inquiry’s terms of reference are far too restricted, and that was very adequately pointed out by the member for Hotham and shadow minister for trade and regional development when he foreshadowed his amendment, and that is why I am supporting his amendment.

By God, if there is a change of government, which we are all aching for on this side of the House and across Australia—whenever the election is called; perhaps the Prime Minister might tell us that today—we in government will move that amendment to really get to the root causes of this terrible crisis of equine influenza. Like the tricky terms of reference that we had in relation to the wheat for weapons scandal, this inquiry is designed to shield the government from criticism. We all know that.

I note with great interest that the terms of reference within this bill do not include an investigation into the culpability of Howard government ministers. This is consistent with the pattern of this government—again, crafty terms of reference may allow senior ministers to escape scrutiny. They never want to know anything. Remember children overboard? Weapons of mass destruction? Wheat bribes to Saddam Hussein? They never knew anything. In the best of Christian charity we can forgive them and say they are not lying; but Australia will not forgive them for their incompetence. If they are not lying about any of these things and if they are not covering up then, okay, we will forgive them for that but we will not forgive them for their incompetence.

Surely we deserve some answers in relation to this crisis. What action has been undertaken in the last three years that the Australian Racing Board’s letter has been in existence? We are all entitled to know that. This inquiry should investigate any instances in which concerns have been expressed to the government ministers by the horseracing industry about the integrity of the quarantine system.

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