General News
6 August, 2025
Littleproud seeks inquiry into American beef decision
Littleproud has “beef” with decision
The member for Maranoa is not pleased with the Federal government’s cave-in to Donald Trump.
In fact, David Littleproud has called for a Senate inquiry after the decision was announced to allow US beef - born and raised in Canada or Mexico - to be imported into Australia. He hopes the Greens will throw their support behind an inquiry, particularly since there has been a “lack of transparency” around the decision.
“Well, we hope that the Greens can see this. I mean, we have now unearthed that the Inspector-General of Biosecurity in this country, in March this year, made a recommendation to the Minister, which the Government and the Department has accepted, that when they're making these risk assessments, an independent scientific panel should peer review and oversight them. That's what we said from day one, considering the fact that this is a process that's been going on for close to a decade,” Mr Littleproud said in a recent interview.
“And yet on the day that they announced that they're going to allow this beef to come in, they had not done the work to provide the protocols, of the way in which that beef could be brought in this country.”
“That says to me the Department is catching up to a deal that Kevin Rudd has done, running around Washington for Anthony Albanese, all at our expense. And this is not just about the cattle industry. Every Australian should be worried about this. This is protecting us from diseases like tuberculosis, from Mad Cow Disease.”
Mr Littleproud urged senators to back an inquiry by the Rural and Regional Affairs and Transport References Committee, calling for a report by October 30.
Australia banned beef imports from the US in 2003 after the fatal neurological disease bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), also known as mad cow disease, was discovered in American cattle.
Nationals Senator Matt Canavan said the proposed inquiry would examine the risk of importing beef potentially exposed to diseases, the process and risk assessment carried out by the Albanese Government, the implications of possible future outbreaks in the United States and other relevant countries, and the protocols and equivalency standards for exports and imports.
“Our biosecurity standards are world-leading and our beef producers deserve to know whether they are being sacrificed at the political altar,” Senator Canavan said.
Australia is not likely to start importing significant amounts of US beef despite Trump’s overblown claims to the contrary. “I don’t believe there will be any major volumes flowing from the US to Australia”, said Rabobank senior analyst Angus Gidley-Baird recently told The Sydney Morning Herald. “US exports volumes this year in total are declining at the moment, because they have lower beef supplies available and higher beef prices, making them less competitive.”
