Christopher Back (WA, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

Madam Acting Deputy President, thank you for the opportunity to contribute to this debate. It really is complete mismanagement of implementing revised protocols for the importation of beef into Australia. The tragedy of it, of course, is that it need never have happened. Had there been open consultation from the word go, all of these matters could have been resolved in advance of last October. It was only following a period of secrecy between industry, demanded by government ministers, that we have the lamentable situation which we emerged from in October last year. It was not only, regrettably, that the industry groups were bound to secrecy to not speak to us in the coalition. It then emerged that they were also bound to secrecy to not speak to their own producer representatives and indeed their processor representatives. What a shame that was.

Why did they in fact come to the table supplicant like this? It was because of an apparent policy that said that in the event that there was an outbreak of BSE in Tasmania then all of the state and territory ministers would be influenced to remove beef from their retail shelves. Only yesterday did we receive advice from the minister, Minister Burke, in a press conference when he said:

The policy of ‘beef off the shelves’ is gone. For our domestic industry, this means we no longer have the ridiculous situation where if there was an outbreak in one corner of Tasmania, all Australian beef would have to be removed from all Australian shelves. That policy is finished with.

I do recall those words being used a few times in the hearings. What industry urgently wants now is two things from the minister, and I request that those on the other side see that they are provided. The first is written undertaking and guarantee that that stupid policy, denied by the New Zealanders and everybody else in the world, is in fact finished. The second is that we would require and seek advice from the minister as to who he consulted with and by what process he determined that in fact the ‘beef off the shelves’ policy is behind us and finished. For me, one of the biggest issues here in this whole debate and the four hearings we held was ministerial accountability. It became clear very quickly that the decision to either allow beef or not allow beef, the decision to determine the protocols by which beef would be allowed into this country from countries that had had BSE, would in fact not be signed off by ministers of the Crown but would be policy decisions by bureaucrats.

I have absolutely and utterly the highest regard for those people who look after our welfare in this regard. When we are dealing with a condition that has the potential to risk human and animal life—variant CJD in humans and BSE in animals—it is not adequate that this is merely a policy decision implemented by bureaucrats. It must have ministerial accountability.

When the Food Importation (Bovine Meat Standards) Bill 2010, announced this afternoon, comes before this chamber, I will urge that it be passed and go to the other house to be debated and passed as a sign of goodwill. This is a bill for an act to ensure equivalence to Australian production standards and importation of bovine meat and meat products. In other words, those importing to Australia must be subject to the same terms and conditions, or their equivalent, as those imposed on our own producers and processors.

This goes a stage further. It talks of the import risk analysis. I am delighted that the results of four hearings have resulted in the minister reversing a previous decision, which his colleague the Minister for Trade stated would never, ever happen; that is, an import risk analysis. The third element of this bill is for labelling so that the consumer can see the origin of the beef.

This has been a critically important hearing. As a veterinarian, most of my practice time was associated with the beef and livestock industries. I am very proud that this Senate committee produced the outcome we had yesterday. I acknowledge the minister for his decision and hope his ministerial colleagues take notice that secrecy has no place in this place.