Raff Ciccone (Victoria, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

It's good to be back here in this chamber for a new term, but, unfortunately, being back here also means that we need to deal with and debate some of the issues that do come up from time to time, and it's a bit brave for the coalition to come back into this place after the election period and lecture the government on biosecurity, given that it was this government, when we first came into power back in 2022, that had to fix our biosecurity system, which was not just broken but also underfunded. The government has worked backwards in order to make sure that we continue to have one of the world's best biosecurity systems, if not the world's best. It is envied and is really considered to be the benchmark for biosecurity when it comes to trading nations.

Like many in this place, I too am very passionate about Australian agriculture and our meat industry. I'm very proud to be co-chair, with Senator McDonald, of the Parliamentary Friends of Red Meat group, which is about promoting our quality beef.

It is worth mentioning some of the facts that are before us when we are dealing with this issue, at the moment, regarding the United States and the government's decision to deal with the US around the importation of US beef. I just want to lay out before us a couple of facts, just to be absolutely clear about what we are dealing with.

When the Liberals and Nationals were in government, they did absolutely nothing to change the rules around importation—absolutely nothing. Beef from the United States has been able to be imported into this country since 2019, when those opposite were in government.

The US beef imports review has been ongoing for some time now—as the minister explained, I think close to a decade—and it has undergone a very rigorous science and risk based assessment for almost 10 years. The decision by the Australian federal department of agriculture has been undertaken in the same way that we deal with any other matter that relates to market access here in Australia.

It's important to understand that Australia is an island nation. One in four jobs are reliant on trade. And our cattle industry has significantly benefited from this. Aussie beef has had back-to-back record-breaking exports, every single year, and it's worth around $14 billion.

On the back of all that, it's worth noting that the reason we're in this situation today is because of the free trade deal that we have with our great friends over in the US—the Australia-US free trade arrangement—that was signed by the former Howard government. Mark Vaile, a member of the National Party, when he was minister, went to the US and signed this agreement back in 2004. So this is not a new set of circumstances that we are dealing with.

It's fair to say that those in the government—and, I'm assuming, most on the other side, particularly in the Liberal Party—are very open to free trade. But when the National Party come in here and talk about these issues in the very first fortnight of a new sitting, you do have to question what is going on internally, in their party, rather than externally, because the only way that I can see what is happening right now is that the government has done everything that we should be doing. If those on the other side were in power, they would have done absolutely the same process; they would have adopted the very same risk-assessment processes that are in place, that we are going through right now. So there is nothing new about what the government has concluded with its review.

It's also worth noting that a number of key bodies in the industry—like Meat & Livestock Australia, and others, like Cattle Australia—have also been very supportive about this process, acknowledging that Australians, to be frank, are still more likely to buy Australian beef, because we have such a strong supply of quality produce here in Australia that whatever may be imported from the US may actually not be able to penetrate such a very strong market. So the concerns that are being articulated and vented by members of the National Party, quite frankly, will not fly very far. That is why the government is backing the scientists and the department when it comes to the review that is being conducted by the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry and all the officials that have been working on this process for the last 10 years. (Time expired)