Politicians only look after themselves. Let's just try our best to destroy the beef industry. Well done. Let's kill the industry.

It makes sense - if there's a single case and the old rules are in place the whole industry is shot. The old rules would make it illegal to sell beef if we had a single case! Worry about the dollar - that's the only thing that'll kill our exports and risk imports.

This BSE move is in the realm of the fiinancial bubble. A few might make a fast buck but undermine the whole structure. The most important issue is to maintain our disease-free status.

The old policy is flawed, and the previous Govt knew it, and agreed to fix it up, but never got round to it. To now shout loudly is hypocrisy.

The idea that Australia should remove all beef off its shelves if we discovered one case of BSE is ludicrous. No other country in the world, including UK, has ever done such a thing.

Other countries have no way of tracing cattle - particularly the USA. With our systems, we can trace cattle in minutes and isolate a problem, why then would we want to remove all beef of all shelves right across the country when we know that there is no risk? Such a move would destroy any attempt to reassure our overseas customers that we are supplying safe product.

The removal of this dangerous and nonsensical rule is well overdue.

Before BSE, the US was free to import beef into Australia any time. Very little ever came across - a few hundred tonnes. The biggest risk is the value of our dollar. Let's not jeopardise the 380,000 tonne quota we send to them. In any event, BSE countries such as the USA will have imports decided on a case by case basis.

The amendment could have simply removed the requirement to remove domestic beef from our shelves in the event of BSE being discovered in Australia. That is probably what the NFF wanted but lacked the competence to achieve. Producers must stop paying fees to support this body.

Great advice, Poka and Practical Producer. Minor noise makers never do their homework - just shout shallow rally cries. Geeez!- they really are dinosaurs. It's the right decision - thanks to the NFF and Cattle Council.

I love how the producers are completely against this but the 'industry bodies' who represent them have siddled up and kissed the governments backside about this. Good on ABA for having the guts to stand up to the government and say it like it is. If you arent seen backing the minister and his cronies - you can kiss your government-funded projects goodbye!!!

Just picture - it in 10 years time, when Australia loses its clean and green image, we will all remember that some stupid government pen pusher screwed our great industry for ever.

This is the best solution. We lead the world in clean, green production (interestingly, we say green and then the Labor Government denounced us as major polluters regarding the ETS) and our systems, regardless what the ABA and Heffernan dinosaurs want you to believe, keep us with this status.

Therefore, if these systems keep us on the top of the red meat export dais in the global trade, why do they not provide the same guarantees to domestic consumers in their eyes? They do but, with the political posturing that occurs on these issues by groups with minute numbers of members who use the media (who dislike them immensely anyway) to get a point across, the issues is muddied.

CCA and NFF provide policy and direction for the industry regardless is you are a member or not. Those that wish to tear this system down are not members anyway - they choose not to be, yet when issues go right reap the rewards. Brazil has the same agreement in place yet cannot get into Japan and Korea. This does nothing to neither damage our OIE status nor encourage the disease. The disease is almost wiped out - get a grip on reality and not something else before public comment please