Bovine Johne's Disease

Ms KATRINA HODGKINSON (Burrinjuck) [5.48 p.m.]: This evening I speak about an important issue relating to my electorate of Burrinjuck, particularly the complete mismanagement by the Office of the Chief Veterinary Officer in a suspected case of bovine Johne's disease involving two of my constituents. Mark and Mandy Wales operate an Angus cattle stud based at Yass. They currently manage a stud herd of around 350 and, given the drought, have been using lease and agistment arrangements throughout New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory to keep their herd fed in these lean times. Whilst on agistment in the Australian Capital Territory one of their herd returned a false positive enzyme linked immunosorbent assay [ELISA] blood test. Whilst they were informed by Australian Capital Territory authorities that a test had been conducted, they were not at any stage notified by New South Wales Department of Primary Industries or the Australian Capital Territory administration of any changes in the status of their herd or any obligations, responsibilities or restrictions placed upon it.

During the time it took to return confirmatory test results the Wales were informed that they had to vacate the agistment property or risk their cattle being impounded and force sold. Given less than 24 hours notice of the need to move, the Wales contacted the Australian Capital Territory Chief Veterinary Officer and Dr Ian Roth and Dr Sally Spence of the New South Wales Department of Primary Industries to confirm the restrictions on the movement of their stock. Staff from neither the New South Wales Department of Primary Industries nor the Chief Veterinary Officer of the Australian Capital Territory sought to stop the movement of the cattle from the Australian Capital Territory back into New South Wales. Issued a permit to move the cattle from the Australian Capital Territory to New South Wales by the Australian Capital Territory authorities, Mark and Mandy took the logical step and relocated their herd back onto their New South Wales property after seeking permission from the New South Wales authorities and verbally receiving such permission from the two aforementioned Department of Primary Industries veterinarians.

Sometime later the Wales received a letter from the New South Wales Department of Primary Industries informing them that the ELISA test was a false positive and that their herd, being clean of bovine Johne's disease, had changed status from "suspect'' to ''non assessed." The letter went further to warn the Wales that but for the benevolence of the Director of Animal and Plant Biosecurity within the New South Wales Office of the Chief Veterinary Officer Mark and Mandy would be liable for breaching the Stock Diseases Act 1923 by moving their stock without a permit and moving their stock whilst on 'suspect' status.

The actions of the New South Wales Department of Primary Industries in this matter is concerning for a number of reasons. We have a situation where a mum and dad business did everything in its power to comply with the regulations of both jurisdictions, including actively seeking information from the authorities so that the Wales could comply totally with their obligations. There were failures on both sides of the border to inform the Wales adequately of what they needed to do to be compliant. Yet at the end of it all the New South Wales authorities turned around and displayed a dismissive "'but for" attitude to the whole mismanaged saga. This is completely unacceptable.

It has been discovered subsequently through freedom of information provisions that considerable communication flowed from the Australian Capital Territory Chief Veterinary Officer and the New South Wales Department of Primary Industries Office of the Chief Veterinary Officer. If both sets of regulatory authorities were aware of the situation with the Wales how come neither sought to adequately inform them of the current status of their stock and any restrictions placed upon it? While my party, the Coalition and, I am sure, all members of the House recognise the need for strict adherence to the State's disease control measures for the betterment of primary industries and the community as a whole, I am concerned about the lack of accountability by the State authorities for their mismanagement of the situation. Had the Wales's cattle returned a confirmatory positive result for bovine Johne's disease it is clear from the communication from the New South Wales Office of the Chief Veterinary Officer that the Wales would now be facing legal consequences for the authority's lack of communication.

The story of Mr and Mrs Wales's dealings with the Office of the New South Wales Chief Veterinary Officer is, I fear, not uncommon. Whether it is due to a lack of resources, poor corporate culture, or a combination of the two, the lack of transparency and poor communication from the regulatory authority definitely needs to be addressed. I have retold this story in the House to put on notice to the New South Wales Department of Primary Industries Office of the Chief Veterinary Officer and the Australian Capital Territory Office of the Chief Veterinary Officer that their mismanagement, miscommunication and malfeasance in this situation has not gone unnoticed. Given the recent attention drawn to the management of contagious diseases in the equine industry, I trust that the Minister for Primary Industries, the Hon. Ian Macdonald, MLC, will view this situation as I do and do everything he can to get his house in order to ensure that proper regulation, with a good flow of communication to stakeholders, occurs throughout the primary industries portfolio so that a situation similar to that of Mr and Mrs Wales never happens again.