"The sudden halt to the movement of horses and then severely restricted movement for over three months led to many cancellations of broodmares to stallions.
"The industry is resilient and survived EI intact but there have been numerous examples of severe hardship. Now we want to get on with reforming the quarantine system and the Government can be assured of our support."
Mr Messara acknowledged that there were lessons to be learned by importers in observing quarantine protocols even though they were not being enforced by
AQIS.
"We note Justice Callinan’s criticism of shared responsibility notwithstanding the complete failure by AQIS to enforce import protocols.
"We will work with the Government to implement the several recommendations covering pre-export health checks and post-arrival handling as quickly and efficiently as possible," Mr Messara said.
Mr Messara said Australia had a world class breeding industry which depended on the movement of stallions and broodmares in and out of the country.
"Australia’s breeding industry is truly international. Now we want a quarantine system to match," Mr Messara concluded.
At the same time, the thoroughbred industry is calling for ongoing vaccination against EI to complement a strengthened and reformed quarantine system.
"We believe that quarantine goes hand in hand with vaccination to safeguard Australia from the economic loss which another incursion of EI would cause," added Mr Messara.
