You've got to wonder about Australians. They pull off one of the finest biosecurity rearguard actions you're ever likely to see in eradicating equine flu, and then look at messing the whole thing up by considering voluntary vaccinations.
Why is this a bad idea for New Zealand? Why does it matter if a few well-heeled Aussie thoroughbred owners want to vaccinate their horses against a disease which doesn't exist in their country?
For New Zealanders and Australians involved in the healthy trans-Tasman trade in horses, voluntary vaccinations couldn't be worse news.
The problem will centre on Australia's ongoing ability to prove it is still free of equine influenza. With the prospect of thousands of thoroughbreds vaccinated against the disease, the possibility exists that the disease could be accidentally introduced but be masked within the vaccinated population.
With the likelihood of cases in vaccinated horses showing few or no symptoms, eradication will be that much harder.
From day one of voluntary flu jabs, New Zealand would have little choice but to impose quarantine restrictions likely to be pretty much identical to those when we re-opened our borders to horses from Australia after the flu outbreak.
For the record, that was five weeks of quarantine - three weeks in Australia and two weeks in New Zealand - which added around $5000 to the cost of shipping a horse from Australia to New Zealand.
The New Zealand Government is under no obligation to provide such quarantine facilities, meaning significant expansion will be needed in current quarantine facilities (which now cater for smaller horse numbers from countries such as the United States, where quarantines are required).
During the period when New Zealand had quarantine restrictions on Australian imports, cheaper seafreight was effectively out as an option as it had no access to quarantine facilities on this side of the Tasman.
So, while vaccination might be seen to ease the burden on the Australian thoroughbred industry, it creates a nasty headache for a whole bunch of others in the horse industry, on both sides of the Tasman.
The idea behind a voluntary vaccination programme in thoroughbreds is that it would allow the industry to bounce back quicker from any future outbreaks. The premise is questionable.
Equine flu vaccines don't necessarily stop a horse from catching the flu. However, they do minimise the symptoms and allow the horse to bounce back much faster than if it had not been vaccinated.
It's great that thoroughbreds might escape with only a mild cold and could get back into training sooner, but authorities will still impose movement restrictions.
The Japanese stallion Snitzel, who retired judge Ian Callinan, in his report on Australia's 2007 flu outbreak, considered to have been the most likely source of the outbreak, had been vaccinated against the disease.
That didn't stop him catching it and bringing it into Australia. That in itself was a lapse, but it would not have been a problem had biosecurity lapses at Eastern Creek quarantine station, near Sydney, not caused the virus to escape.
New Zealanders and Australians who think voluntary flu jabs are a bad idea will have to hope that it is a political ploy - and there's a pretty good chance it is.
Federal agriculture minister Tony Burke was quoted recently in The Australian newspaper as supporting calls from the thoroughbred industry to allow voluntary jabs.
However, he has been silent on the subject since. It seems he has sown the seed and is now watching the outcome.
The 2007 flu outbreak is estimated to have cost $A1 billion in eradication costs, lost earnings and support to those whose livelihoods were affected.
The government made it very clear it would not be prepared to foot the cost of a similar outbreak in the future and urged the horse industry to sign up to the Emergency Animal Disease Response Agreement (EADRA).
Key livestock industries are signatories to the agreement, which gives the government the right to levy animal owners to recover the cost of any efforts to eradicate a disease outbreak.
Sectors of the fragmented horse industry raised concerns over the fairness over the way in which horse owners would be levied.
The government pressed on with legislation to sign up the horse industry but lost in the Senate.
It is entirely possible that Burke's reported support for voluntary vaccination is a move to get the horse industry back on track and finding enough common ground to get signed up to EADRA.
Expert veterinary advice opposes voluntary vaccination, and it is hard to imagine there would be enough political support to get it through if the Australian horse industry signs up to EADRA.
Thoroughbred Breeders Australia chief executive Peter McGauran went on record praising Burke's strength of character in supporting the voluntary vaccination proposal. His support came around the same time the Australian Veterinary Association voiced its opposition.
McGauran, himself a former federal agricultural minister, commended Burke for rejecting the "antiquated opinions of vets who have no experience of EI apart from the outbreak of 2007".
"The Australian veterinary profession has largely fallen far behind international developments on the preventative measures used to minimise the risk of EI," McGauran said.
But interestingly, he continued: "EI vaccination for thoroughbreds occurs all around the world without difficultly or mishap and it is a matter of puzzlement in international circles why the Australian industry has been prevented from taking the necessary steps to safeguard its own future.
"Surveillance systems ensure that there is regular monitoring of Thoroughbreds to detect any early signs of EI and containment strategies immediately implemented."
His comments are interesting because Australia and New Zealand are not really like the rest of the world when it comes to equine flu. We, along with Iceland, don't have it.
Sure, other countries may monitor their situation and work to contain outbreaks quite successfully, but these are nations where the disease is endemic.
If Australia allows voluntary vaccination, the reality is that a majority of horse owners will take their chances and opt not to vaccinate.
An outbreak in such a mixed population will be very hard to contain.
Vaccination was a crucial tool in eliminating flu in Australia, used in strategic buffer zones.
The last recorded case was at Christmas, 2007. It took a year of systematic testing to satisfy the World Organisation of Animal Health (OIE) that Australia was officially free of the disease.
McGauran's view is: "In no other sector of the economy could an industry of the size and importance of the Thoroughbred industry have its future economic security determined by non professional or recreational interests.
"It is the strong view of Australia's breeders that a relatively inexpensive vaccination (approximately $A150 per year) is both their right and need to secure their industry's future."
A powerful lobby has a strong view.
It will be interesting to see how the issue plays out.
» Blog: EI vaccination: a victory of dollars over sense? - have your say.
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