Bill Shorten (Maribyrnong, Australian Labor Party, Parliamentary Secretary for Disabilities and Children's Services) Share this | Hansard source

Some in this place would find that very difficult, I suspect. Jockeys suffer at least one body fracture in their career. In fact, the AJA says that 89 per cent of jockeys have suffered at least one serious fall during their career. A study by the Victorian Institute of Sport, commissioned by Rob Hulls, the racing minister, found that jockeys typically have a bone density equivalent to that of an 80-year-old woman. Combine that with getting up at 4 am six days a week and travelling more than 160,000 kilometres a year. The average riding career of a jockey is only 10 years, with no job security beyond that. And the Australian Jockeys Association says that jockey numbers have declined by 43 per cent in the last nine years, with new starters declining by nine per cent. They anticipate a continuing trend of declining jockey numbers if industry does not take the chance to protect and improve conditions for jockeys.

In this regard, as I prepared for this legislation I noticed that the AJA last week launched a national campaign, ‘Racing for our Lives’, where Australian jockeys are taking a stand to improve protection in one of Australia’s most dangerous industries. The AJA has released a three-point plan to improve jockey protection by (1) ensuring that all jockeys have access to a personal accident scheme; (2) ensuring that all jockeys’ public liability insurance costs are covered; and (3) extending the National Jockeys Trust to ensure that jockeys and their families are supported in the event of injury, death and illness. Under the AJA’s plans these improvements would be funded by a modest one per cent increase in the percentage of prize money allocated to jockeys. An international analysis shows that Australia’s jockeys are amongst the lowest paid in the racing world. This would seem to warrant serious consideration by the racing authorities.

So, of course, the impact of the August 2007 equine influenza outbreak was a disaster for jockeys. It was a disaster for the Australian horseracing and horse-breeding industry. Its emergency financial assistance was modelled on natural disasters, in fact, such as Cyclone Larry. We should acknowledge the great help provided by public servants from the Commonwealth departments, in particular FaHCSIA, the department for which I am the parliamentary secretary. The direct costs incurred by the industry and by the Commonwealth in merely containing the outbreak totalled more than $130 million. The industry and its participants have lost many more millions of dollars of income due to the resulting cancellations and restrictions on racing and breeding activities.

I remember the day. By midday 26 August last year all weekend race meetings in Australia had been cancelled, and in the first week 50 thoroughbred race meetings were lost. In New South Wales and Queensland no metropolitan race meetings were held for three months. In New South Wales alone 193 thoroughbred race meetings were lost—30 metropolitan, 31 provincial and 132 country. This included the Sydney spring carnival, from which the industry traditionally derives a large portion of the annual wagering income that is used to fund all New South Wales racing clubs. In addition, 250 harness race meetings were lost in New South Wales and a further 81 race meetings were lost in Queensland. For the majority of participants, who live and work in New South Wales and Queensland, no race meetings meant no or significantly reduced incomes.

Whilst the owners and trainers struggled through the disaster that was equine influenza, it had a more devastating effect on the jockeys, the stablehands and the workers at the bottom of the tree in racing in Australia. The jockeys, for example, who earn a fee per race plus a percentage of the race money—that is of course if they are successful—were deprived of their earnings. Trainers’ incomes were substantially reduced, although of course their expenses were essentially unchanged. A report by the Australian Bureau of Agriculture and Resource Economics estimated that the direct costs of the equine influenza outbreak during the initial response period, involving containment and eradication through restricted movement, reached $500,000 per day for the disease control alone plus $4.6 million per day in forgone income for businesses affected by equine influenza, including racing, farming and recreational businesses. The racing industry derives 70 per cent of its income from wagering. The outbreak substantially reduced wagering income not just in New South Wales and Queensland but throughout Australia, in particular in Victoria, as bets are taken on the national program.

In March 2008, the Rudd government announced that debate on the bills was postponed until after it had considered the findings of the commission of inquiry into the August 2007 outbreak of equine influenza in Australia, called the Callinan inquiry. Justice Ian Callinan was appointed by the previous government in September last year to investigate the outbreak of equine influenza. He was asked to report on the circumstances contributing to the outbreak of the disease and the need for any strengthened biosecurity procedures for the quarantine management of imported horses.

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