Glenn Sterle (WA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

If you have a problem with that—through you, Mr Deputy President—the chair of the committee, Senator Nash, will make her contribution later. We need to get back to the facts.

Back in 2001 the Australian government—the previous Howard government—introduced the blanket ban on the domestic sale of beef and beef products from any country that had a confirmed case of BSE. We know that. The policy was implemented with the best available science at the time. The science was conservative, to say the least, and the need for the policy to be reviewed was certainly acknowledged. Since 2001 the science has improved significantly and our understanding of BSE has developed enormously. It is now scientifically evident that BSE cannot—I repeat, cannot—be introduced into Australia simply through the importation of beef. This means that the risk to human and animal health can no longer be the reason to prevent the importation of beef. The Australian beef industry understood the new science and it, the industry, has urged the government to make the change in policy. The government went through a very rigorous and thorough consultation process—