Portfolio Transcripts

Rudd Government fails to protect Australian beef

23-February-2010

Beef producers and consumers should be alarmed about the Rudd Government’s failure to stop cheap imports from countries that have suffered an outbreak of BSE (mad cow disease).

With only one week before the ban on the importation of beef from BSE countries is lifted there has been a deafening silence from the government.

What this means, according to member for Farrer Sussan Ley, is that beef may soon be imported to Australia from countries where there has been an outbreak of BSE. Worse still, we could be importing beef from countries where there’s no system of tracing BSE outbreaks back to individual farms.

“The importation of such suspect beef is a slap in the face to Australian beef growers who’ve invested an enormous amount of time and effort in building and maintaining a reputation for clean product” Ms Ley said.

“It is also a backhander for consumers and shows the Rudd Government places more importance on international trade imperatives than in the health concerns of the Australian meat buying public”.

The Coalition has been concerned about the lack of consultation and the secrecy surrounding the Government’s decision to abolish the ban on beef imports from countries which have had a BSE outbreak.

Australian beef farmers are subject to full traceability through the National Livestock Identification Scheme (NLIS) and it is ridiculous to suggest that we should lower our standards and allow beef in from countries which have lower standards than our own producers.

Ms Ley said that at the very least, the Minister for Agriculture must demand equivalency with current Australian standards, which would mean that any country which has had a BSE outbreak must demonstrate full traceability of their own beef products, from farmyard to packing house, before they can apply to import beef to Australia.

With the relaxation of importation bans, traceability will be determined on a country-by-country basis and administered through Food Standards Australia New Zealand.