$240m spent so far on equine flu disaster

Some $240 million of taxpayers’ money has been spent mitigating losses and riding Australia of the equine influenza epidemic which escaped from the Australian Quarantine and Inspection Services’s Eastern Creek quarantine station, last August, and spread across NSW and Queensland. The severity of the enquiry conducted by former High Court Judge, Ian Callinan, is expected to have a bearing on taxpayer exposure to writs from horse industries alleging negligence at the station.