Letter to all members from EA Chair Judy Fasher

Members all,

You will all appreciate that our organising committees are the life-blood of our sport.  For the most part they are made up of volunteer administrators who give generously of their time to ensure that the sport thrives, and that events run under responsible 'risk management' arrangements.

Interschool and Eventing organising committees in Queensland were threatened recently with prosecution, because they required Hendra vaccination of horses as a condition of entry for their event.  Faced with this threat they appealed to Equestrian Australia for assistance. 

Legal protection was available to the organising committees under the ACCC legislation.  The particular section of the legislation is referred to as "Notification". 

Notification does not make vaccination compulsory but it does give legal protection to EA and members of organising committees from prosecution under the ACCC legislation.  The expectation by both EA and organising committees is that the vast majority of events will not require vaccination.

It is vital that organising committees are protected from threats of prosecution, if in their view 'risk management' requires that horses attending events in 'high risk' areas or coming from 'high risk' areas be vaccinated.

Equestrian Australia will continue to monitor recommended 'risk management' plans as well as offer support to our event organisers in order that they are enabled to provide safe environments for the conduct of our events. 

Judy Fasher,

Chair, Equestrian Australia