Having consistently been reassured that “the Albanese Labor Government will never compromise on biosecurity”, we now learn that the government has lifted the ban on imports of beef raised in Mexico and Canada and finished in the US.

While most of the leading Australian meat industry bodies seem unperturbed by this, Cattle Australia has called for an “independent review” of the changes. National Party leader David Littleproud echoes this, saying he has “serious concerns” about the timing and process of the decision.

Little attention has been paid to the fact that both Mexico and the US have had Category 1 status for importing beef into Australia for more than a decade, and Canada achieved this status about a year ago. So there seems to be little reason for all the political foaming and media froth and bubble about this announcement.

Biosecurity concerns may be valid from the beef industry’s point of view. But consumers, politicians and the nation as a whole seem reluctant to deal with the bigger picture, because that picture is not only inconvenient, but also, let’s face it, confronting. In that picture — which will make about 88% of Australians extremely uncomfortable — we need to reconsider the whole enterprise of beef production and consumption, both imports and exports.

Scientists have long been aware that animal agriculture is one of the world’s most reliable and deadly sources of environmental pathogens for human beings. But more critically, scientists have been warning us for decades that “immediate and far-reaching changes in current animal agriculture practices and consumption patterns are both critical and timely if GHGs from the farm animal sector are to be mitigated”.

And yet our media and politicians choose to devote their scarce time and resources to counting the number of importing

© Pearls and Irritations