Undercutting Aussie Farmers for US Beef

I asked the department about its decision to allow US beef imports and why so much of the process is hidden behind redactions. From what I understand, in 2017, the department reviewed biosecurity risks for cattle continuously resident in the applicant country since birth. Then, in 2019, it approved imports of cattle born, raised, and slaughtered in the US. however in 2020, the US asked for something new: permission to export cattle that had been imported from other countries into the US. To justify this, the department commissioned two addendums to the original review. One addendum was released publicly. The other? Completely hidden. I asked for its title and a copy. The department refused, saying that I’d have to pursue review options on the FOI. What are they hiding? Here’s the bigger issue: Australia is extremely efficient at producing beef. The only way US beef becomes cheap enough to compete here is if they import cheaper cattle from countries like Mexico, slaughter them in the US, and then export the meat to Australia. If we only allowed beef born, raised, and slaughtered in the US, they couldn’t compete. Now, by allowing Mexican cattle through the back door, we risk undercutting Australian farmers. The department insists price isn’t part of their biosecurity assessment and that they only look at disease risk. Yet that’s exactly the problem. We’re ignoring the commercial reality that this opens the door to cheaper imports while relying on foreign assurances for safety. Strong biosecurity is important, however Australians deserve transparency — not redacted documents and blind trust in foreign systems. Transcript: https://www.malcolmrobertsqld.com.au/undercutting-aussie-farmers-for-us-beef/