Kerry O'Brien (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Primary Industries, Fisheries and Forestry) Share this | Hansard source

Is the minister aware of the article issued by AAP on 30 August that I referred to in my contribution in the second reading debate? It is about a former groom who says he carried out work at the Eastern Creek facility in 2001 and 2003. He revealed that he and other stallion grooms were allowed to leave Eastern Creek on numerous occasions, without changing clothes or scrubbing down, to attend race meetings, play golf and eat and drink at local hotels and restaurants, to attend racetracks and to attend pavilions run by thoroughbred studs. There were allegations about trucks unloading horses at the facility and then leaving without washing down. Is the minister or the department aware of those allegations, and what do you say to them?