Inquiry told of mad cow concerns

The Federal Government's decision to allow beef to be imported from countries that have had outbreaks of mad cow disease could put 300,000 people out of work in a week, a Senate inquiry has heard.

The Rural, Regional Affairs and Transport References Committee is examining the Government's decision to relax beef import restrictions.

In October last year, the Government announced that from March 1, 2010, it would import beef from countries that are able to demonstrate they have appropriate controls in place to ensure beef products coming into Australia are free of BSE (Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy) - or mad cow disease.

"Such a move would put 300,000 out of work in a week," the Australian Beef Association told the inquiry.

"No government in the world did this when BSE broke out within their borders," the association said.

Australia has made much of being free of diseases like FMD, BSE, Blue Tongue and Scrapie and had gone further to promote the nation's image with its National Livestock Identification System (NLIS).

Despite these factors the nation's producers are receiving the second-lowest prices in the developed world, the association said.

Beef imported to Australia from countries where there has been an outbreak of mad cow disease will not be traced back to individual farms, a Senate inquiry has been told.

Yet beef farms in Australia are subject to full traceability through the NLIS.

The double standard drew the ire of Coalition senators during a Senate estimates hearing in Canberra on Monday.

"How on earth ... can we be sure about the beef that's coming from that (overseas) property?" Nationals Senator Fiona Nash asked the chief veterinary officer from the government's Biosecurity Service Group.

Asked whether there would be individual assessments of traceability, Dr Andy Carroll replied: "No. Traceability will be determined on a country-to-country basis, and administered through Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FANZ)."

Head of the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, Conall O'Connell, said "robust" measures would be in place from an animal and human health perspective.

That prompted Senator Nash to say under her breath but clearly audible through her microphone: "What a load of rubbish."

Liberal Senator Chris Back said the changes placed high-level importance on the competence of (FANZ) officers in the countries of origin.

However, Meat and Livestock Australia (MLA) managing director David Palmer said relaxing the import restrictions was about providing trade consistency.

If a BSE-affected country has satisfied a whole range of measures and has moved to a category that has allowed trade to recommence, then serious consideration should be given to allowing that country's beef into Australia, he said.

Mr Palmer said if Australia had been one of the countries affected by BSE (Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy) seven years ago and was shut out from America's market, "our industry would be going ballistic by now".

While he said nothing was of zero risk, it must be assumed that officers working to protect Australia from BSE were working in the national interest.

Beef imports from nations that have had BSE will be allowed into Australia from March 1, under the proviso their beef passes human health regulations to be administered by FANZ.

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