March 8, 2010

The Federal Government’s decision to order an import risk analysis for beef imported from countries that have had mad cow disease is a result of concerted pressure from everyday Australians, Federal Member for Cowper Luke Hartsuyker said today.

Mr Hartsuyker said The Nationals and their Liberal colleagues had galvanised the nation’s beef producers and ordinary Australians to fight the Rudd Government decision. The Coalition has been preparing to introduce a Private Members Bill this week calling for the import risk analysis, equivalence in trace back mechanisms and country of origin labelling.

“Last week I met with farmers across the Cowper electorate and they were astounded that such a decision would be made without an Import Risk Analysis. There was a bad smell surrounding the handling of this matter with the Rudd Government decision shrouded in secrecy,” Mr Hartsuyker said.

“Despite ongoing pressure from The Nationals the Minister for Agriculture Tony Burke refused to complete and IRA or update the import protocols. The Rudd Government also refused to release the import protocols before the ban was lifted on March 1.

“The nation’s clean, green disease free status is invaluable and quarantine is too important to be ignored. It was disgraceful the Minister for Agriculture is prepared to play Russian roulette with our beef industry. Our beef industry is worth billions of dollars, supports hundreds of towns and communities, and thousands of jobs would be at destroyed if there was a Mad Cow outbreak in Australia.”

Mr Hartsuyker said it was ludicrous that Australian beef producers would be subjected to more stringent quality control than overseas producers.

“Anyone seeking to import beef to Australia should be subjected to the same stringent standards that Australian beef producer operate under. Our industry legally requires a National Livestock Identification Scheme (NLIS) to sell beef to Australian consumers and it is ridiculous to suggest that we should lower the bar and allow beef in from countries which have lower food safety and quarantine tandards than our own producers.”