Australian beef about imports

Press, 21 December 1976, Page 2

Australian beef about imports

PA Hamilton. Imported New Zealand rump steak in Australia — all 37 tonnes of it in a year — has Queensland’s Premier (Mr Joh Bjelke Petersen) sizzling. He said in a Press Association report he was “shocked” that foreign beef should be brought into the country when local cattlemen were in severe financial difficulties. He called for a total ban on imports of New Zealand beef. “I want the Commonwealth to put the brake on some of these characters who are selling New' Zealand beef,” he said. But for the whole of last year New Zealand sent a total of only 604 tonnes of beef to Australia — 37 tonnes of rump and 566 tonnes of offal such as heart, liver, tongue and kidneys. New Zealand meat producers yesterday said Mr Bjelke Petersen could “jump up and down all he

likes,’’ but a ban on New Zealand beef imports would have no effect on New Zealand’s trade.

Mr John Cornwell, information officer for the Meat Producers’ Board, said in Wellington that imports of beef to Australia were negligible. “We send them only top quality cuts when there is a temporary short supply on the local market. There's never been any fuss about our imports in the past, and we’re not the least bit concerned about it.” The chairman of Waikato Federated Farmers’ meat and wool section (Mr M. Stewart) said he “wouldn’t be too worried about it” if Queensland’s Premier was able to ban New Zealand imports. “But I doubt if the Federal Government would bother about such a small quantity,” he said. “We send over only specialist lines, and we’re more concerned with keeping open the channels of free trade with Australia.”