It was only 12 days ago that Federal Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, Peter McGauran, was singing the praises of Australia’s quarantine inspection service.

Commenting back then on 19 August on news that horseracing in Japan had been suspended due to equine influenza (EI), Mr McGauran boldly asserted that “Australia will not take any risks with horses being imported from countries where EI is present.” Said the minister:

There are clearly laid out procedures relating to horses coming into Australia from countries affected by EI. There needs to be at least a two-month gap between when a horse is presented for export, and any possibility of it being exposed to the virus.

The Australian Government has spent $616 million to strengthen quarantine protection over the past three years, and this has allowed Australia to quickly react to incidents such as the current EI outbreak in Japan.

Two days later Mr McGauran was still confident that Australia’s security measures would keep the dreaded virus from our shores – so confident, in fact, that he raised the possibility that Delta Blues and Pop Rock might still be able to visit for a second crack at a Melbourne Cup quinella. Both horses at their home in Hokkaido had tested negative for EI.

At that very time, out at the Eastern Creek quarantine facility run by the Federal Government, tests were being conducted on a stallion waiting to be cleared to start its duties for the new thoroughbred breeding season which was showing clinical signs consistent with equine influenza.

On 23 August the Minister’s optimism was replaced by the first sign of pessimism. Under the heading “Blow for Australia’s top horse studs” Mr McGauran put out a press statement saying that “tests indicate a strong suspicion of a recently acquired infection.”

While it was too early to be sure, “we suspect this to be one of the horses from Japan, given there has been an outbreak of EI in that country.”

With confirmation that EI is well and truly present in the horse population of NSW and Queensland, Mr McGauran has stopped speculating about the origins of the disease.

With an eye to the potential litigation to come, he now fobs off questions about the transmission of the virus from a government quarantine centre with comments about it being to soon to worry about things like that.

Too soon for government lawyers, perhaps, but not for the bevy of plaintiff lawyers who know a profitable class action when they see one. With horse racing unlikely in NSW before next year the damages are bound to be enormous.

And so is the potential backlash from voters. The maladministration at the government quarantine centre affects not just the thoroughbred racing industry but tens of thousands of recreational horse riders.

Hell hath no fury like a pony club mum deprived of the weekend’s activity.