STAFF WRITERS
THE federal Leader of the Nationals, David Littleproud, has shown caution on the federal government’s decision to allow US beef imports without biosecurity checks and also on the future of net zero carbon emissions policy.
In an interview on the ABC, Mr Littleproud said he wanted to see the science on the US beef decision.
“It should be predicated on science,” he said.
“I’m suspicious by the speed in which this has been done, but we need to give confidence to the industry. This is not just about animal welfare. This is about human welfare. This is about potentially coming into this country and having a human impact.
“I think it’s important that the government’s very transparent about the science and I don’t think it’s even beyond the question to have an independent panel review that science, to give confidence to everybody about how that science was predicated.
“But the protocols that have been put in place is important too. So there was a review undertaken in 2024. It said that every animal must have a pre-and post-slaughter check by a vet. We haven’t seen what those protocols are.”
Mr Littleproud said the fact that government had not been transparent was adding to some concern within the industry and more broadly in the community that “we should be worried about if they haven’t done the right thing”.
“It should be predicated on science. So I think once we see the protocols, there may be a necessity for an independent panel to review what the department has come to in light of the fact that this has happened at such speed and to give confidence and, you know, I think that’s what the Australian public should have in their minds is that confidence of what’s coming in. Just having said that, understand there’s not a lot of US Beef comes into this country,” he said.
“Australian consumers decide that. And they should. And they should look for Australian beef. But in essence you won’t see and you don’t see a lot of US beef.
“But we need to be able to provide the certainty around human health. Australian families need to know that they can go to the supermarket and if they do pick up a US piece of beef that they know with confidence that all the protocols have been put in place.”
Questioned about the push by Nationals backbenchers, Michael McCormack and Barnaby Joyce to scrap net zero, Mr Littleproud said he has “real concerns about it, to be candid”.
“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. That’s why we left the Coalition, because we wanted to make sure nuclear energy was part of a technology agnostic approach to reducing emissions as part of our energy grid,” he said.
“But you’ve got to understand we’re not climate deniers because we’re only upset about the fact that we’re tearing up our landscape and we’re getting all these wind factories that are huge, in terms of hectares and taking up prime agricultural land, tearing up native environment.
“And yet when Zali Steggall gets upset about six wind turbines in North Head, she’s not labelled a climate denier.”
Mr Littleproud said in communities, “I’ve seen families torn apart in my electorate and others, we’ve got to be sensible about this”.
“We’ve got to understand we have responsibilities and we’ve got to understand the difference between mitigation and adaptation. And we need other parts of the world to actually do more heavy lifting, like China and India,” he said.
“And when you see BRICS countries now saying they’re going to take more fossil fuels, you see the EU now saying they’re going to get a carve out, they’re looking to exempt their heavy industries from, like cement and aluminium from carbon reduction. You’ve got to say the world is shifting.
“But I’m saying let’s be sensible. We’re going through a sensible process. We’ll be calm, methodical. But I believe we need to do this in a way that doesn’t hurt Australia and hurt regional Australians.”