PRESIDENT Obama's decision to delay his visit to Australia may also remove some of the heat from the BSE beef imports debate, with the Government's decision to impose a two year import risk analysis on imports high on the original Presidential agenda.
The US President was scheduled to arrive in Australia tonight but cancelled his trip to help negotiate last minute deals back in Washington to shore up the passage of his make-or-break health reforms.
He now intends to visit Australia with his wife, Michelle, and children in June.
FarmOnline understands that high on the agenda, had the trip gone ahead this week, would have been the Government's decision to toughen up the quarantine process for beef imports from countries which have had bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) or mad cow disease, including America.
Late last year the Government had announced it would ease the ban on such imports in the wake of new science deeming BSE was not the threat it was once thought.
But public outrage from consumers and grass roots cattle producers forced the Government to bring in the tough IRA, essentially delaying any prospect of imports for at least the next two years, and that's if the countries are found fit to export to Australia at all under the tough new measures.
The decision triggered a series of diplomatic representations from the US embassy to Minister for Agriculture Tony Burke earlier this month, sparking fears of some retaliatory action by the United States which could jeopardise Australia's near-300,000 tonne a year beef trade to the States.
The decision was then to be raised at a much more senior level, with President Obama believed to have flagged the issue for discussion with Prime Minister Kevin Rudd this week.
When asked about the issue being on the agenda, a spokesman for the Prime Minister said the Government would continue to place food safety as "the highest priority" for our food production and processing whether it is domestically produced or imported.
"The IRA for beef imports will inform the Government on the import protocols to be put in place to ensure our consumers and the beef industry continues to have confidence Australian remains free of BSE."
Mr Rudd's spokesman said Australia has a strong working relationship with the United States on agriculture.
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