Albanese insisted that “this wasn’t a political decision”, saying it was “absolutely” a coincidence that the Department of Agriculture decided to lift the restrictions after loud complaints from Trump.
“There has been an independent review, it took 10 years,” Albanese said, rejecting the opposition’s calls for an investigation into the move. “The decision has been made, and it was made independently at arm’s length of any political decision.”
Trade Minister Don Farrell said he was wrong to say US President Donald Trump raised the issue of beef imports in his conversations with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.Credit: Dominic Lorrimer
Cash said: “It is even more imperative now that we need to ensure that the Australian Labor Party under Mr Albanese have not traded away our strict biosecurity standards, which all Australians understand need to be in place.”
Australia has allowed US beef into the country since 2019, but blocked meat from cattle that were born in Mexico and Canada before being slaughtered in America. This effectively meant that all beef from the continent was blocked, because US supply chains are highly integrated. No US beef has been imported since 2019.