Senator Christine Milne
Wednesday 10 March 2010
Milne congratulates Minister Burke for reversal of mad
cow beef import decision
Australian Greens Deputy Leader, Senator Christine
Milne, has congratulated Agriculture
Minister, Tony Burke, for listening to the concerns of
the community, the Greens and Opposition parties by reversing his
decision to lift the ban on importing beef from countries
affected by mad cow disease, or BSE.
Senator Milne had referred the issue to a Senate inquiry
last October, immediately after
learning that the ban would be lifted. The scrutiny of
the decision from the Senate Inquiry has
now led to a moratorium on lifting the ban pending a two
year import risk analysis.
"Public health and food security are vital and must be
protected at all costs. It was disgraceful that the community had been
kept in the dark about the fact that they could be eating beef from a
country affected by mad cow disease. "
"Consumers have the right to know if meat on supermarket
shelves comes from countries which have been affected by BSE.
"As someone who grew up on a dairy farm in North West
Tasmania, I am always vigilant about
standing up for a healthy environment and the excellent
reputation Australia's food has around the world for being clean and
uncontaminated.
"This reputation is critical for both consumers and
producers, and I am very pleased that the
Senate inquiry I established has helped deliver this
sensible decision.
"Minister Burke was clearly concerned there would be a
public outcry against this decision
when the beef industry was sworn to secrecy over the
decision to lift the ban. He wanted to push
a pure trade agenda based on pleasing overseas trading
partners like the USA and Canada before the livelihoods of Tasmanian
beef farmers and the health of Tasmanian families.
"Our local beef producers have the right to
reassurance, through a full and proper import
risk analysis, that their reputation for clean produce
will not be undermined.
"The next critical step is for Australia to move rapidly
to improve our food labelling laws to make
sure consumers know what is in the food they buy and how
it was produced."
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