Simon Birmingham (SA, Liberal Party, Minister for Trade) Share this | Hansard source

Yes, I can assure those workers. In relation to the four abattoirs that have had their permits to export to China suspended, those suspensions have been as a result—according to Chinese authorities—of irregularities or discrepancies in relation to labelling standards and the like against customs and quarantine matters. We are now working intensively with those processors to make sure that the evidence is provided back as to how they have rectified any of those discrepancies and how they have put in place effective processes and procedures to make sure that they are not repeated again in the future. I would note that, in 2017, there were around six meatworks that faced a similar process as a result of actions by Chinese authorities. Those issues took some time to rectify, but rectified they were. And we will work as quickly and expeditiously as we can to see these are rectified as well.