Coalition demands answers after Albanese government lifts biosecurity restrictions on US beef imports

Sky News AU

4 days ago

The Albanese government is being urged to explain its backflip on a US beef ban after the Prime Minister previously insisted Labor would not 'compromise' on biosecurity.
The Australian Financial Review revealed on Thursday that Australian officials had notified their US counterparts that restrictions on the importation of US beef will be lifted following a scientific review of the biosecurity risks.
Responding to the reports on Thursday, Nationals Senate Leader Bridget McKenzie said the decision could pose a risk to our beef industry.
'We need to make sure our $11 billion beef export industry is protected. Our concerns would be any watering down of those science-based protocols would lead the risk of disease, entering this country, and our farmers, being subjected to unnecessary risk,' Ms McKenzie said.
Shadow finance minister James Paterson said the government needed to explain its backflip.
'The prime minister himself has said that we couldn't relax the restrictions on the importation of US beef because of serious biosecurity concerns," Mr Paterson told Sky News.
"So if the government has found some way of dealing with that issue, protecting our domestic agricultural industry from the introduction of foreign diseases and pests, then they should say so they should stand up and explain that, not anonymously leak it to a newspaper.
'Full credit to the AFR for getting the story, but a major story like this affecting a major export industry of about $11 billion a year and about an $82 billion domestic industry, when you include red meat more broadly, deserves more answers than this.'
The restrictions had been cited by President Donald Trump as a justification for his decision to impose a 10 per cent across the board tariff on Australian imports – as well as much larger tariffs on steel and aluminium – in violation of the existing Australia-US free trade agreement.
'Australia bans – and they're wonderful people, and wonderful everything – but they ban American beef,' President Trump said in April
In response to the comments, Prime Minister Albanese emphatically declared his government 'will not change or compromise any of the issues regarding biosecurity, full stop, exclamation mark, it's simply not worth it. So it's that simple.'
A blanket ban on US beef imports - imposed following a mad cow disease in 2003 - was repealed in 2019. However biosecurity rules have remained in place due to the risk of beef from countries such as Mexico and Canada being imported through the US, and no American beef has been imported under the new scheme.
But a government source told the AFR on Thursday that the US Beef Imports Review had undertaken a 'rigorous science and risk-based assessment over the past decade' and the bans would be lifted.
Agriculture Minister Julie Collins confirmed the report, saying in a statement that her department was "satisfied the strengthened control measures put in place by the US effectively manage biosecurity risks.'
However Cattle Australia CEO Will Evans said he was sure the decision would not have been made unless scientific experts had the 'utmost confidence' it would not impose a risk to Australia's cattle industry.
'Context is important here. We export more than $4 billion of beef a year to the US, and this has been a multi-year assessment process undertaken by the Department of Agriculture - they're the competent authority in this, and they're required to assess this under a rules based trading system.
'What they've done is they've completed a technical scientific assessment, and they've said, look, there are the right processes in place in these countries to be able to manage these risks, and they've determined that they're going to grant access after making this assessment over many years.
'Now, the cattle industry is a $75 billion industry in Australia. I'm sure they wouldn't have made this decision unless they had the utmost confidence that the science was correct.'