00:00The government says the evidence now points to it being able to lift this restriction
00:06on beef imports from the United States.
00:09To be clear, beef imports from the United States have been permitted since 2019, but
00:14beef had to be raised in the United States before it was slaughtered and then exported,
00:18and there simply hasn't been very much coming this way.
00:21The US has been pushing for those restrictions to be eased further, to allow beef raised
00:26in Canada or Mexico and then slaughtered in the United States to then be exported over
00:32here, arguing the markets are too heavily intertwined for anything else to really be practical.
00:38The government says it's been reviewing this for some time, for a decade or so, and has
00:43now come to a position where it is safe to allow these exports to begin.
00:49The reason that this is so significant is because of the broader trade context with the United
00:54States, when the US placed tariffs, a 10 per cent baseline tariff on all Australian exports
01:01to the US earlier this year, the President himself, Donald Trump, pointed to beef restrictions
01:06on Australian imports as a significant barrier in the trade relationship.
01:11So even though this isn't a significant market, beef imports from the US have never been a significant
01:17market in the Australian trade relationship.
01:20This is clearly an issue on the US side of things.
01:23That being said, the government says there is distance between these issues, that biosecurity
01:28and trade are not the same issue.
01:30These two things are not directly related.
01:32They say this is simply a matter of timing and the science coming around.
01:36Here's the Agriculture Minister Julie Collins speaking on this earlier.
01:40This has been the culmination of what has been a 10 year process.
01:44The US has been able to bring beef into Australia since 2019.
01:48In 2020 they asked for the expanded access.
01:51This process now is at conclusion and has taken around five years to conclude.
01:55The decision has been purely based on science and a rigorous assessment by my department.
02:00Our biosecurity risk assessment process is very robust and I have faith in the officials
02:06in my department to do this appropriately.
02:09These are experts in the field.
02:10Australia's biosecurity system is world renowned for a reason and this assessment has now been
02:15completed.
02:17The question is now, does this open the door to reconsideration of the US tariffs currently
02:23placed on Australia?
02:24There is that 10% broad tariff that I mentioned before.
02:27There are also much more significant tariffs on some Australian sectors, particularly steel
02:32and aluminium, up to 50%.
02:35The coalition for its part is deeply sceptical of the timing here.
02:40It says if the science stacks up, if it is safe for Australia to allow US beef to be imported
02:46into Australia, if those biosecurity concerns are no longer present, there is no risk to Australian
02:52industry, well that would be okay.
02:54The National's leader, David Littleproud, says he would like to see an independent review
02:58of the science, just to be sure.
03:00Here's a bit of what he had to say.
03:01Well, I want to see the science and it should be predicated on science.
03:06I'm suspicious by the speed in which this has been done, but we need to give confidence
03:11to the industry, but also to you.
03:13This is not just about animal welfare, this is about human welfare, this is about BSE potentially
03:18coming into this country and having a human impact.
03:21So I think it's important that the government is very transparent about the science and
03:25I don't think it's even beyond the question to have an independent panel review that science
03:31to give confidence to everybody.
03:34So plenty of political reaction, Tom.
03:37What about industry reaction?
03:38Look, the industry has been generally somewhat welcoming of this decision.
03:43It has been extremely cautious in the past, it's always wary of the risk that BSE, also
03:49commonly referred to as mad cow disease, would present to the Australian beef sector.
03:54It points out that beef is an enormously valuable export for Australia to markets like the USA,
04:01that we do export a significant amount of beef to the United States.
04:05We also export a very significant amount of beef to China as well.
04:09This is an industry worth billions of dollars.
04:11But it says it has to put its faith in the science.
04:15Here's Cattle Australia speaking on this earlier.
04:18The department's undertaken a technical scientific assessment and we have to put faith in them.
04:24They've made this assessment themselves.
04:25They've said, look, we've looked at this, we've looked at the best science.
04:29This is a decision that we feel comfortable with.
04:30And again, when you have a $75 billion industry relying on them not making this mistake,
04:35I'm sure they've been very cautious in their decision-making.
04:39Lorna, the key question now is where does this go from a trade perspective?
04:43Do Australian trade officials make new approaches to the United States to try and renegotiate
04:49those tariffs?
04:50The government says work has been underway, of course, on that for some months now.
04:53But this may perhaps, of course, provide a new avenue in those talks.
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