The threat to Aussie steak

ohksquobg says:

08:59pm | 29/09/11

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Joe says:

02:53pm | 23/02/10

The importation of cheap meat and veg will lead to the demise of an agricultural base which is capable of meeting the the food requirements of Australia.
Billions of dollars are pumped into our defence forces and yet without an independent supply of food for our nation, we can simply be starved into submission.

Scot says:

12:47pm | 23/02/10

If these beef imports from the US and EC are subsidised by these countries then Australia should impose an import tax equal to the subsidy they are given by these countries. This will mean a level playing filed for the Australian producers who get no support from the Rudd Labor Government which is evident by what they are doing to the Australian beef industry,

Scot says:

12:41pm | 23/02/10

So what is Rudd Labor and their mates in the unions going to do about this one. They will also loose the country vote. They have been duded by the Rudd government yet again a failure. One by one all the abattoirs will close and the beef industry will be a shadow of its former self. If Australian has to impose expensive and compliant cradle to grave food chain tracking then all imports should also be made to do the same or they are banned from entry and must meet the Korean and Japanese standards. I have never seen a Labor minister for agriculture capable of doing a decent days work. Time for Rudd (bucks stops hear) to stand up be counted,

Fedup with Failure says:

12:35pm | 23/02/10

After living in the UK for more than 6mths in the mid-90s I am blacklisted from donating blood at the Blood Bank. If non-sympomatic potential donors are still being knockedback after 15 years, why would we jeapodise our grazing stock and population with what is deemed to be such a significant risk?

AdamC says:

12:29pm | 23/02/10

Is this a health argument or a protectionist argument. The BSE health argument is spurious: the risk is simply too small, especially from N American beef.

If Aussie farmers don’t want the competition, they should just say so, or some up with better spin.

David Anderson says:

12:19pm | 23/02/10

As a beef producer, I have no problem with competing with imports that are of the same health standards as the domestic product.tThe cattle industry through NLIS has individual traceability for all cattle within Australia.
If the beef is being imported from Foot & mouth free, BSE free & has individual traceabilty happy to have the competition as we already compete on the global market.
If the imports are from areas that do not have this in place, why risk our multi billion dollar industry?
We have recently had a significant advantage in the Korean market as they have placed strict protocols on USA beef due to BSE; the USA cattle lobby has in return attempted to pressure Korea into letting their health standards drop. Why would be now destroy our competitive advantage?

rene says:

10:47am | 23/02/10

I dont care as long as I can see where the meat is actually raised. I want it labelled “Australian” and I will only buy Australian even if it means paying more. I do not buy anything that has the comment “made from local and imported goods”.  Especially from China as yes, their products can be affected by raw sewage contamination.  I prefer to know my meat and fresh prodush is Aussie.  Even on the odd occasion I need to but something from the big 2, if it says its not australian, i would rather go without.  So I think we all should try and only buy Australian as much as we can. Although places like Maccas etc and even probably most restaurants will probably end up using the cheap imported stuff.  I don’t think I would be eating out as much then.

Mikko says:

10:13am | 23/02/10

Hey Tracey maybe the answer could be on another Punch post here
http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/killing-cane-toads-with-love/
beat the Chinese at their own game, give our struggling beef producers a second income source while their dams are full, save some native wildlife, boost our exports (food and medicinal drug). Forget Peking Duck, go for Peking Cane Toad.
Somehow I don’t think we’ll be seeing this on the shelves at Woolies and Coles, or on the menu at our favourite restaurants any time soon, but hey, 1.3 billion Chinese can’t be wrong. Pass the plum sauce please. (TIC)

GreenFrog says:

10:11am | 23/02/10

Something as basic as meat or veg, I only want to buy Aussie. I have faith in Australian producers and none in anywhere else. If that sounds bad in anyway, well I am sorry but I feel we should support our own country first. Not only that I don’t want some slipup and all of a sudden I have gone crazy through getting mad cows from overseas beef. I would rather pay the extra and support our farmers and make sure my health will not be affected by inferior products.

Louis says:

09:51am | 23/02/10

Yeah over the top! Get stuffed! We all know BSE had an negligible effect on other countries. Many countries won’t import beef from those countries and if they do it has to be over a certain age… That can be very unprofitable, please note farmers here aren’t subsidised.

When the USA was BSE free they set the standard very high! Now that they are infected they expect everyone else to set the standard very low. Free trade agreement or not what this current government (and possibly past governments) is doing is not in the peoples interest. If one cannot see that please leave your little box known as the cities of Australia for a few hours and open your eyes.

If one government could just try to let farmers keep their life style that’d be nice. They have to battle with subsidised markets, poor state infrastructure, ludicrous greens, anti-farm propaganda in schools and now(seems they always are) they have to battle with poor governments who have so many other interests other than Australia or it’s people. It’s an uphill battle and they’ve been copping this rubbish for far too long.

We laugh at middle eastern countries who sell all their resources and have money yet fail to develop any other industry and go bust once the money stops rolling in from oil. It’s sad because we are exporting all our resources also and failing to develop other industry or better yet failing to allow them to develop.

Long live the family farm! The ALP, Greens and some of the selfish Lib’s and independents can go burn with all the cattle.

Aberford says:

09:44am | 23/02/10

Our large beef industry provides a lot of jobs, particularly in areas where unemployment is high.  Beef is also a major export earner.

As the only island continent, we would be stupid beyond belief to invite potentially contaminated product into Australia.  One outbreak of imported disease would cripple the industry, and this would reflect right through the economy.

Perhaps the rush to put our beef production at risk is being led by political donations and good ol’ pollie schmoozing?  It appears that the current rulers of the universe are very susceptible to ski, sports box and a host of other blandishments.

Willa says:

09:40am | 23/02/10

As a country restaurant owner, we are not interested in overseas imports for many reasons. It’s hard enough for the farmers as it is and to import ‘generic unidentified’ products with any risk at all of BSE goes totally against where food is moving… that is local, quality & boutique even (woolies identify the providence of their food these days). Get with the times labour and stop trying to claw back the money you spent on junk by screwing over your own people. Have you not watched the footage of farmers crying as they burned their livestock during foot in mouth and BSE outbreaks. You should be ashamed of yourselves for even considering putting this risk on farmers on top of what they have had to endure through crashed beef market, drought and years of struggle, especially as consumers won’t see any benefit. I fear for the future of Australia if all we care about is lining our own pockets at the expense of our fellow Australian’s. Welcome to bland land, no culture, no empathy, no beliefs, but plenty of money in the pen pushers pockets!

Kyle says:

09:09am | 23/02/10

Great one guys - Let’s give out a poorly designed stimulus package in the vain hope of keeping our economy afloat and then shoot it in the foot with this B/S!  The incompetence of the current government continues to amaze me.  I’m a 23yr male pharmacist with no real interest in politics but even I see something dramatically wrong with this picture.  Enough is enough labour, you’ve got us into huge national debt and now your trying to destroy our local economy and our ability to service that debt.  Bring back Johnny and the Liberals.

Relativity says:

09:08am | 23/02/10

The MLA is a peak industry body with a majority of Government and self appointed board members. With respect to producer appointed board members the voting rights are determined by the volume of cattle sold in any year. This has the effect of skewing the vote in favor of the high volume producers in the feedlots who incidently use hormone growth products to accelerate cattle growth.(Something outlawed in Europe but not Australia) This means the vast majority of producers only get a minor say in how the MLA operates and the recommendations given to government. The relaxing of these imports is lunacy and is done to benefit someone - but not the small producer who will be driven out of the industry.

H of SA says:

08:54am | 23/02/10

I’m pretty angry with the government for this one. Keep the sub standard beef out of my country please.

Adam Diver says:

07:32am | 23/02/10

I love cheaper prices partiularly for my Meat. But the isue is that I still won’t be able to buy it any cheaper as woolies and coles will just increase their margins. So since the consumer won’t benefit why would this even be considered. Its absolute lunacy.

danj says:

07:09am | 23/02/10

You have got to be kidding. I didn’t know about this and my first reaction is lunacy. It is plain ridiculous that Australian farmers who generally engage worlds best practice and are regulated to do so through schemes such as NLIS are forced to compete with inferior imports and there is little way for consumers to tell the difference on the shelf because of the ridiculous and unfair labelling laws and loopholes.

If the Australian government don’t want farmers why don’t they just come out and say it and we’ll sell the farms to Bob Brown and Penny Wong so they can lock them up and let the feral animals roam free, let the irrigation water go out to sea and let the farmers and all the other workers who rely on farmers such as bank managers, stock agents, truck drivers, grain traders etc. join the dole queue.

acker says:

06:48am | 23/02/10

Stupidest decision I have ever heard .. !! vast areas of Central, Western and Northern Australia is country only suitable for animal grazing, add to that a large populations of feral pigs and camels, large populations of native animals Roos and Emus: An outbreak of Mad Cow or Foot&Mouth; would be pretty well uncontainable. And lets remember Pigs were a vector in the spread of Mad Cow..the following peice from the article pretty well sums it up.

“The Minister reckons we’re protected by quarantine regulations but, as one farmer said on our 2UE program yesterday, that didn’t stop the outbreak of equine influenza three years ago.” RECKONS !!!!!

Also WTF are we importing farm products from countries that subsidise their farmers and in cases even pay them not produce anything.

ganesh says:

06:07am | 23/02/10

well the Australian cow meat industry has gone down the same industrialised factory farming route too. From the ‘beef’ or ‘steaks’ point of view, does it make much difference?
Oops, sorry forgot its not about animal welfare. But a human preference for cheap access to animal protein.