Littleproud ‘suspicious’ over how quickly biosecurity restrictions over US beef imports were lifted
Nationals leader David Littleproud says he’s “suspicious” about the speed in which the decision has been made to lift restrictions on imports of US beef.
The government has said biosecurity won’t be compromised and that the decision comes after a decade-long review by the agriculture department into US beef.
Littleproud, on RN Breakfast, raised the possibility of an independent panel reviewing the decision by the department.
I want to see the science and it should be predicated on science. I’m suspicious by the speed in which this has been done … It looks as though it’s been traded away to appease Donald Trump, and that’s what we don’t want.
Littleproud says he was made aware of the decision yesterday and has been told he will receive a briefing by the department.
Key events
Cattle Australia chief executive Will Evans says the decision to lift restrictions on US beef imports will not create an “open slather” domestic market, and told RN Breakfast he’s confident the US has implemented robust biosecurity measures.
Evans says the beef trade is still in favour of Australian exporters, and he expects there would be only very low volumes of beef that enter Australia when the restrictions are lifted.
They’ve [the agriculture department] made this assessment themselves. They’ve said, look, we’ve looked at this, we’ve looked at the best science. This is a decision we feel comfortable with.
Littleproud: ‘I don’t look over my shoulder’
Nationals leader David Littleproud says he’s not looking his shoulder at the possibility of a leadership spill, while debate over net zero escalates in the Coalition partyroom.
Barnaby Joyce has again said today that his private members bill to repeal the net zero by 2050 target is not about challenging Littleproud’s leadership.
Littleproud told RN Breakfast he’s focused on the job, and not himself.
I put my head on a pillow at night thinking about trying to leave a legacy for the people I leave. No matter how long I’m here for, I want to be able to look back and say I did it in a respectful way, and what I’m focused on is delivering outcomes.
Asked whether he supports net zero, Littleproud said he has “real concerns”.
I believe in climate change, and I think we have a responsibility to try and reduce emissions. But unfortunately, what net zero has become is about trying to achieve the impossible rather than doing what’s sensible.
Littleproud ‘suspicious’ over how quickly biosecurity restrictions over US beef imports were lifted
Nationals leader David Littleproud says he’s “suspicious” about the speed in which the decision has been made to lift restrictions on imports of US beef.
The government has said biosecurity won’t be compromised and that the decision comes after a decade-long review by the agriculture department into US beef.
Littleproud, on RN Breakfast, raised the possibility of an independent panel reviewing the decision by the department.
I want to see the science and it should be predicated on science. I’m suspicious by the speed in which this has been done … It looks as though it’s been traded away to appease Donald Trump, and that’s what we don’t want.
Littleproud says he was made aware of the decision yesterday and has been told he will receive a briefing by the department.
Nationals and Greens agree government must provide beef biosecurity assurances
Nationals deputy leader Kevin Hogan says assurances haven’t yet been given by the government that biosecurity measures won’t be weakened to allow the US to export more beef to Australia.
Hogan and James Paterson earlier this morning took a bit of a stab at the government, accusing them of leaking the decision to the media, rather than briefing stakeholders about the decision. Hogan tells Sky News:
There hasn’t been a full ban on American beef into Australia for years, there’s been a partial ban in place. The full ban has actually applied to Mexico and Canada … we just don’t want any of the biosecurity measures and protocols to be weakened. We don’t know if they have been yet. We haven’t been given assurances yet that they have been [protected].
Hogan’s on a panel with the Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young, who also says the government has to be “upfront and transparent” about the decision.
Is this going to really be enough to tickle Donald Trump’s tummy? Look, I doubt it. I mean, this is a bloke who … he’s just not a good faith actor when it comes to negotiations.
It’s like playing Russian roulette with Donald Trump these days.
Joyce triples down on ending ‘bat-poo crazy’ net zero
Barnaby Joyce is tripling down on his campaign to end the net zero by 2050 commitment (it’s probably more than tripling down at this point).
On the Today show a little earlier he said net zero “assuages the ego of the people in that building [parliament]”, while the cost of living and farming worsens.
Joyce introduced a private members bill to end the target on Monday, but has denied the push is also about changing the Nationals’ leadership (as David Littleproud has previously supported the policy). Joyce said:
Sensible people such as Michael McCormack and very, very smart people such as Matt Canavan and a lot of other people on the within the Liberal party, because I talk to them, know this is bat-poo crazy and we’ve got to as a nation if we if we want to prevail, start doing some things to make ourselves strong, not weak.
Coalition says penalty rates legislation will impact small businesses and does not confirm it will support it
The Coalition won’t say whether it will support the government’s legislation on penalty rates, but has expressed concern over the impact it will have on small businesses.
Tim Wilson told RN Breakfast the party, which received the legislation last night, will go through its internal processes, and said the government is doing a “legislative victory lap after the election”.
One of the most disturbing and distressing things was when we put to the minister what’s the impact going to be on small business, and she couldn’t tell us how many small businesses would be impacted.
Asked about the upcoming productivity roundtable, Wilson also said the government needs to figure out its priorities.
We don’t know any of the principles that the government is outlining for its productivity tax and everything else summit right now, this is a proposal that’s been thrown out there by the prime minister… I just think the government should lay out some principles, make it clear what this actual summit is going to be about.
‘I really hope the government knows what it’s doing’: Coalition MP on beef imports
The opposition says it’s “cautious” about lifting restrictions on US beef, while the government has said Australia’s biosecurity won’t be “compromised”.
Newly returned Liberal MP Tim Wilson, the shadow industrial relations minister, tells RN Breakfast the government should be making decisions in the national interest.
We’re obviously cautious about lifting any biosecurity measures. Biosecurity shouldn’t be compromised, and I really hope the government knows what it’s doing.
We know that the United States is obviously doing a number of things on the trade front right now, it’s not always in Australia’s national interest… We need to be making decisions in Australia’s national interests and backing our exporters, and so we need to make sure that the biosecurity framework is strong, robust and in Australia’s national interest.
Penalty rates legislation to be introduced today
Legislation to stop penalty or overtime rates being bargained away for workers employed under the award system will be introduced today, which the government says will be a “safety net” to protect workers’ pay.
The bill is in response to a proposal from the retail employer lobby to the fair work commission, to allow some retail manager to opt out of penalty rates in exchange for a 35% pay rise.
The fair work umpire is still due to make its decision on that proposal, but Amanda Rishworth tells RN Breakfast the government doesn’t want to see penalty rates “eroded”.
There are many award-reliant workers that really rely on penalty rates and overtime when they work weekends and late nights that really make up a large proportion of their take-home pay. We want to put it beyond doubt that penalty rates and overtime in the award can be eroded because we don’t want to see people paid less.
Rishworth says there is ‘evidence’ of adequate biosecurity controls on US beef
The agriculture department has “evidence” of adequate biosecurity controls on US beef, says Amanda Rishworth.
Doing the media rounds for the government this morning, Rishworth joins RN Breakfast down the press gallery corridor. She says this has been a decade-long process by the department, which has done a “rigorous scientific and risk-based assessment”.
The timing coincides with a strong push from the Trump administration for Australia to drop these restrictions.
The review of the beef, the US beef imports, has been a decade long. So it undergoes rigorous scientific and risk-based assessment by the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries, and Forestries and they have looked at the evidence and they have got enough assurances that control measures will be in place. It is their decision to lift the ban.
Host Sally Sara asks whether the decision is part of a transaction with the US to ease tariff tensions. Rishworth only says that it’s been a decade-long process by the department.
Paterson has no issue with scheduled $800m payment but says money cannot be only strategy to secure Aukus
It’s “inexplicable” that the prime minister hasn’t yet met with Donald Trump, Paterson says, to smooth over the tariffs issue, and lobby for the Aukus deal.
Yesterday it was revealed the government has sent over another $800m to the US, which Labor says was a “scheduled” payment. Paterson tells Sky News he has “no problem” with the payment, but the government can’t just rely on the money to ensure the deal goes ahead.
I have absolutely no problem with continuing to make the investment in the US submarine industrial base to increase the production of Virginia-class submarines to meet our shared deterrence goals in the Indo Pacific, as long as that is not the government’s only strategy and only plan to secure Aukus…
It is not good enough to hope that Elbridge Colby and the Pentagon will just arrive at the right conclusion.
On a separate issue, Paterson is asked at the end of the interview about the fight within the Coalition over net zero.
He says for the next three years, his party’s position on the issue is largely “academic” and that it will go through a “structured” process.
