February 23, 2010

Australia Coalition drafts legislation for tighter BSE beef controls

The Coalition is drafting a private members' bill to insist that the Australian government carry out an Import Risk Assessment on beef from BSE-infected countries.

Countries, such as the US and Canada, will be able to apply to export beef into Australia from next Monday (Mar 1).

The Coalition will draw up the legislation and hopes to get the government to carry out a risk assessment and traceability in other countries.

The Coalition is a group of centre-right parties that has existed in the form of a coalition agreement since 1922.