Dear Ministry for Primary Industries,

Can the Minister explain how the "controlled" release at 300 sites by the Canterbury Regional Council in March 2018 can be called "Controlled" When it is well known that this virus cannot be release controlled and will spread widely across both Islands very rapidly in the same manner as the original "illegal" release of RHDV1?

How does the Minister plan to stop the spread of RHDV1a-K5 to areas outside these 300 sites when the spread of RHDV1 was uncontrollable and the spread of G1/RHDV2 across Australia has been uncontrollable?

Can the minister explain how this can be planned before any public submission, or is the public submission just an appeasement exercise and the result pre-ordained?

How will the minister protect the 116,000 pet rabbits when the efficacy of the cylap vaccine has been questioned by the manufacturers, the Australian Veterinary Association, the Royal Australian SPCA and in the face of the testing and verification done by the Australian Government and their results put into doubt by an independent scientific review?

Yours faithfully,

Gary Stephenson