National Horse Traceability Register to become a reality

Many thanks to the hard work of many activists and caring individuals, the National Horse Traceability Register is set to become a reality.  Last year, Greens Senator Mehreen Faruqui set up a Senate Inquiry that recommended a register be established to protect not only racehorses, but all horses. While CPR’s focus is horse racing, we know that a win for thoroughbreds is a win for all horses.

The committee called for submissions and 70 were received. All but 2 submissions were in favour of the scheme. CPR were actively involved in this process, making a submission and attending parliament to give evidence to the committee. You can read CPR’s submission here.

On November 27 last year, the Senate Standing Committees on Rural and Regional Affairs and Transport released their report which was overwhelmingly in support of the scheme. Yesterday the federal government announced the recommendations would be implemented (see all related documents here.

There’s no doubt that the 7.30 story, “The Final Race” (watch here) played a huge role by exposing the mistreatment of racehorses. Its timely release which aired while the inquiry was being held, placed even more impetus on the need for a national register.

The Traceability register means that every racehorse will be traceable at any time meaning that every owner will be made accountable. Every horse’s history will be available to new owners and proper records will be kept of the history of every horse from birth to death. This means that we will now have accurate data about the numbers sent to slaughter and the racing industry will have nowhere to hide.

There’s still a lot of work to be done by CPR and others behind the scenes to ensure that the register and associated legislation, that will be introduced to accompany the implementation of the register, makes Australia a much better place for all horses.

A huge thank you to Mehreen Faruqi for making this inquiry happen, Australian Equine Unification Scheme  (AEUS) for their tireless efforts in bringing the mistreatment of horses out in the public domain and to two remarkable individuals, Juliana and Mark Waugh for their years of lobbying the federal government for this scheme. To everyone who made a submission to the inquiry, we thank you. Finally, a huge thanks to 7.30 for running the expose, “The Final Race” and exposing the reality behind what is fundamentally a cruel and exploitative industry.

Now let’s look forward to better outcomes especially for our racehorses that for too long have been considered a ‘waste’ product of the racing industry.