Simon Crean (Hotham, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Trade) Share this | Hansard source

You have the right to talk about this later, but I am being asked to deal with the concerns that are legitimately being raised, and I am dealing with those through the appropriate channels—through the shadow minister who represents the opposition in these areas. We will demand the same traceability standards of foreign beef producers as we demand of Australian beef producers. It cannot be any simpler than that; we will demand it. It will be required before we give approval for the beef coming into this country.

The second issue was the question of why there is no independent risk analysis. It is because the analysis we have in place is already better than an IRA. We have long imported beef, and all the diseases that can be carried by beef have been assessed in terms of their impact—diseases such as foot-and-mouth disease and rinderpest, for example. We are going to do exactly the same for BSE but, in addition to the protocols, which the industry has been consulted about and which are now posted on the Food Standards Australia website, we are also undertaking a quarantine risk assessment for each country wanting to export beef into this country. What we are saying is that risk assessment and the targeted science that we are using in terms of the protocols and in terms of the individual country assessments are the best response to manage any of the animal quarantine risk. It is not a question of going to an IRA that simply tells us what we already know. What we need is the ability to put protocols in place to ensure that what we do know is carried out and applied in relation to any country seeking to export beef into this country. I have sought to answer the issue being raised in another place as to why there is no IRA, and the shadow minister has got it in written form.

On traceability, again I say to you that we will be requiring the same traceability standards of foreign beef producers as we demand of Australian beef producers. The head of Food Standards Australia has said that the protocols that are in place will ensure that any beef imported into Australia will be 100 per cent guaranteed to be BSE free. That is what Food Standards Australia are saying. They have posted the protocols that are required to make the assessment country by country, and people who have been alarmist about the fact that, from 1 March when these changes come in, there will suddenly be a flood of beef into this country from other countries are absolutely wrong. All that will happen on 1 March will be the ability for countries to seek to send it, but what is then required is the process, the protocols, the country assessment and the risk-in-country assessment being undertaken. So let us not get alarmist about that.

On the question of labelling, it is true that the labelling laws, in my view, can be improved, and I think it is important from the point of view of consumers that we do it. But let us all understand this—

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