Kerry O'Brien (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I note in his press conference Minister Burke said that there has been growing concern about an irresponsible fear campaign run by some. I think that is absolutely correct. It is not correct that the policy, which came into effect on 1 March, has been overturned. It has not; it remains. The thing which has changed is that a decision has been made to implement an import risk analysis on top of that policy decision. The original reason it was not believed necessary for there to be an import risk analysis was that prior to the decision previously made—I think by the previous government—to exclude beef from this country on the grounds of BSE, beef was imported into this country. The minister’s decision was initially based on the fact that beef had been previously admitted to this country without an import risk analysis. However, responding to community concern—which the minister believes was whipped up by an irresponsible fear campaign—and in the interests of the reputation of Australia’s industry with Australians, it was felt important to implement a process to ensure overall confidence in the system.

This government believes that the previous policy would have jeopardised the entire domestic industry if ever there were an outbreak of BSE in Australia. We believe that it would have required all Australian beef to be removed from sellers’ shelves. If other governments did not believe they were bound by that policy, that is a different matter. I am not certain, but it is my recollection it was the previous government that agreed to the arrangements that would have put this in place. Be that as it may, we have gone past that point. We are now in a position where we are working towards a public assurance process, where the matter will be determined according to the science. I have always been a supporter of the determination of quarantine matters based on the science, not on politics. So I do take issue with the idea that there will be a constraining of the import risk analysis process by this private member’s bill that Senator Back is talking about. In effect, it tells the scientists what they find should acceptable—I do not find that acceptable.