Equine Influenza Impact Survey Results
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Thank you to the 2721 people that responded to our survey between January 23 and January 31, 2008.
The Australian Horse Industry Council emailed a link to their online Equine Influenza Impact survey to 5274 registered horse owners on January 23, 2008. 2721 respondents successfully completed the survey in the 8 day period. This represents a response rate of 51.6% which is outstanding given that average online survey response rates are usually 21% or lower.
The industry is clearly motivated to have its voice heard on this issue.
There was a good spread of respondents from the various size groupings and communities. The two largest cohorts were from the affected States of NSW and Queensland.
· 1312 or 48.2% of respondents were from New South Wales
· 600 or 22.1% of respondents were from Queensland
· 618 or 22.7% of respondents were from Victoria
· 763 or 28.6% of respondents had horses that had contracted Equine Influenza.
· 1098 or 40.4% of respondents were primarily horse breeders.
· 820 or 30.1% of respondents were primarily recreational owners
· 605 or 22.2% of respondents were primarily riding club members.
· The financial impact of the Equine Influenza outbreak on the horse industry and the Australian economy is significant.
· Respondents estimate that they have experienced losses at $522 Million between August and December 2007.
· $29 Million per week are the losses experienced by the reporting cohort.
· If the losses estimated by the respondents was extrapolated out to the whole of the horse industry then the total would be in the billions.
· 54.8% of respondents believed the overall impact of the Equine Influenza outbreak was between moderate and severe.
· The largest individual area of loss estimated was for not for profit associations. Local non profit associations have borne the brunt of association losses.
· Estimated losses in all categories was significantly higher than estimated in the Australian Horse Industry Council’s survey conducted in September 2007.
· The financial assistance available through government grant payments has only offset losses by 8.5%
· 33% of respondents believe that they will experience ongoing financial hardship beyond August 2008 even if Equine Influenza zones are extinguished by June 2008.
· There is still a lot of anger at the “special treatment’ provided to the racing industry.
· Many respondents consider the Federal Government liable for the Equine Influenza outbreak.
· There is a great deal of support for the Australian Horse Industry Council and DPI NSW for the support they have provided.
Respondents were asked a series of questions on the impact of the Equine Influenza outbreak on their financial situation. The questions were asked in four groups:
· Individual costs/losses
· Business costs/losses
· Local community costs/losses
· Association costs/losses.
When asked to rate overall the economic impact of the current equine influenza outbreak on their financial situation, 54.8% of respondents believed it was between moderate and severe.
Both New South Wales and Queensland respondents rate the impact of Equine Influenza more severely than other States, which is to be expected. The Tasmanian response is interesting but should not be relied upon due to the small number of Tasmanian respondents.
A total calculation of the impact of the Equine Influenza outbreak between August and December 2007 was made adding the estimated impact on the four areas assessed. The total came to $522 Million. This is a conservative estimate as the losses to local community businesses will be far greater than can be shown by the averaging method used for that figure. Given that these figures are only those calculated by the answering cohort of 2721 respondents, the impact on the Australian economy would seem to be significant.
The figures shown in the survey represent at loss of $29 Million per week for this cohort for the period 25 August to 31 December 2007.
