Julie Collins (Franklin, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry) Share this | Hansard source

I would say to the Leader of the Nationals that this decision has been made by my department, and it is through the usual processes that these decisions are made. As he would be well aware, of course, this has been an ongoing process now for over a decade in terms of US beef coming into Australia. Indeed, US beef has been able to come into Australia since 2019, and in 2020 they asked for expanded access to allow some of the other beef from the supply chain that is slaughtered in the US to come from Canada and Mexico. I would say to the member opposite that this has been done in the usual way. The department has published the review on the website today in the usual way. The import details that are required for importers will be published on the website and provided on Monday in the usual way.

As the member opposite would know, the protocols in relation to the areas that he is suggesting have actually already been provided to his office today on his email, so the member opposite needs to be very careful here about trying to undermine Australia's biosecurity system. Our biosecurity system is the strongest in the world for a good reason. We've had to invest around $2 billion dollars to strengthen our biosecurity system because of the mess that you left it in, so you should not be undermining our scientific approach to—

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