Latest news with #NationalsSenate
Sky News AU
8 hours ago
- Business
- Sky News AU
'Anti-farming' Labor lambasted after report emerges Albanese government is reviewing US beef ban for tariff negotiations
Labor has been attacked as "one of the most anti-farming governments" and urged not to use Australia's $11.3b beef export industry as a 'pawn' or to strike a 'compromised deal' with the United States to limit the ramifications of Donald Trump's sweeping tariffs. Government officials reportedly told The Sydney Morning Herald that Australia could alter its biosecurity laws to allow US beef exports without risks to local industry, in a move to appease Trump as he wages his trade war. Australia banned US beef in 2003 after a mad cow disease outbreak before undoing this in 2019 when the outbreak subsided. Cattle raised in Mexico and Canada but slaughtered in the US is still banned, however, this could be changed according to the report. Nationals Senate Leader Bridget McKenzie told Sky News on Friday that the beef industry needs to be protected. 'We need to be making decisions about importing beef based on science and the biosecurity risk posed by those imports, not in some sort of compromised deal-or-no-deal trade-off with the United States,' Ms McKenzie told First Edition. 'I think the big concern for the government here, in the reports today in the Nine papers, is that it seems this is again one of the most anti-farming governments if these reports are true. 'We've got the live sheep trade cancelled, we've got the super tax on farmers, we've got the methane pledge and now potentially (Labor is) using our beef industry and our 63,000 beef farmers as a pawn in some sort of trade deal instead of basing these decisions on science.' Independent MP Zali Steggall, who appeared alongside Ms McKenzie, backed the Nationals Senator's concerns and questioned the government's tactics in fighting the trade war. 'It's very concerning if these reports are true because it does mean the Albanese government is picking and choosing which industries it's going to fight for and protect,' she said. 'I do agree with Bridget, it would be incredibly concerning for the Albanese government to be prepared to put on the table, as part of negotiations, changing the rules we have in relation to the import of beef. 'The government should be standing up for Australian industry.' Australia exports more than $4b of beef to the US annually, making it the largest market for Aussie beef exports behind China. After Trump revealed his sweeping tariffs and invited impacted nations to negotiate, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese vowed to protect the nation's biosecurity laws, Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme and news publishers against tech giants. 'We will not weaken the measures that protect our farmers and producers from the risks of disease or contamination,' he said in a statement. However, this new report suggests the Albanese government could have found a way to ensure the Australian beef industry's security while allowing US beef in. Australia faces 50 per cent tariffs on steel and aluminium alongside a broad 10 per cent levy on all goods, which is still paused by the Trump Administration. Mr Albanese is expected to have a meeting with Trump either on the sidelines of the G7 meeting in Canada or in the US later in June where the Prime Minister will make Australia's case for tariff exemptions. This could include changes to beef import rules. When Trump revealed his 'Liberation Day' tariffs, he took a swipe at Australian restrictions on US beef. 'Australia bans - and they're wonderful people and wonderful everything - but they ban American beef,' the US President said in April. 'Yet we imported US$3b of Australian beef from them just last year alone. They won't take any of our beef. "They don't want it because they don't want it to affect their farmers and you know, I don't blame them but they're doing the same thing right now."
Sky News AU
30-05-2025
- Business
- Sky News AU
'You are such a joke': Steggall and McKenzie clash in heated exchange over East Coast reserve, domestic gas usage
Nationals Senate leader Bridget McKenzie and Independent MP Zali Stegall have debated the need for a new gas reserve off Australia's east coast, the pair clashing on air over residential gas usage. Resource Minister Madeline King delivered a clear message to the gas industry this week that a focus on domestic gas distribution was fundamental. Ms King said it was clear Australians were fed up with overseas exports dominating the market while they pay some of the highest prices in the developed world, pointing to an imminent government review of the industry. Australia exports about 80 per cent of the gas that it produces. Anonymous industry sources revealed to the Australian Financial Review the Albanese government was prepared to consider the development of an east coast gas reserve as part of the review. Senator McKenzie and Ms Stegell traded barbs over the potential development, the latter agreeing domestic markets should be the priority, but not at the risk of accelerating climate change. 'We need to look at how we best use gas - its best use is industrial, not residential… We need to have policies that accelerate the transition from gas to electrify homes," Ms Stegell said on Sky News. 'That's a way of bringing down the price for energy for our residential use and prioritising that use of gas where it's needed in those heavy industries that still rely on it. 'We have to be honest with the Australian public, gas is an accelerant to our warming situation. So when we look at farmers facing drought, we have to be very mindful that if we increase the use of gas in the system, we accelerate warming'. Senator McKenzie launched into a brutal rebuke of the independent MP, declaring: 'Zali doesn't clearly care about prices. She doesn't care about keeping manufacturing and industrial jobs here at home because the people that Zali cares about are very affluent people in the heart of Sydney.' Ms Stegall accused the Nationals Senator of sticking to pre-planned talking points and not 'listening to a word I said'. 'What I've just identified is we need to prioritise the use of gas for domestic markets and for our industrial markets, because that is where it's needed," she said. "You have no credibility, Bridget. You are such a joke. 'I mean, seriously, I'm talking about regional communities facing drought, I am talking about regional communities, facing floods and all you want to do is keep accelerating and increasing the problem'. Senator McKenzie conceded the potential reserve was a 'positive move" from the Labor government. 'I'm encouraged that they've realised that their own policies at a commonwealth level and state Labor government's policies around energy and renewable rollout and energy security aren't working,' she said. 'There does seem to be a bit of a reality check - I think that's a positive move because we all need to be working towards a prosperous and sustainable future for our country and that means using our gas resources for our prosperity.'
Sky News AU
15-05-2025
- Business
- Sky News AU
‘Grave concerns' raised over Labor's unrealised gains tax scheme
Nationals Senate Leader Bridget McKenzie discusses Labor's plans to tax unrealised gains and what it means for the everyday Australian at large. 'Looks like you are going to be paying tax on unrealised gains on intergenerational assets, and it is going to have a huge issue for self-managed super funds,' Ms McKenzie told Sky News host Chris Kenny. 'We have grave concerns with this, as does Paul Keating, the grandfather of the superannuation scheme as well, so we are not alone in this being an absolutely abysmal economic policy for young people, for family farmers, for those who have self-managed super funds and for those in their 20s and 30s whose accounts will be significantly impacted over decades to come.'
Sky News AU
08-05-2025
- Politics
- Sky News AU
‘Loyalty matters': Jacinta Price defecting to Liberal's is ‘incredibly disappointing'
Nationals Senate Leader Bridget McKenzie discusses Shadow Minister for Indigenous Australians Jacinta Nampijinpa Price defecting from the Nationals to the Liberal Party. Ms McKenzie told Sky News host Chris Kenny that 'loyalty matters' in politics. 'So, it is incredibly disappointing.'
Sky News AU
30-04-2025
- Politics
- Sky News AU
The Voice referendum sent a ‘very clear message' on how Australians feel
Nationals Senate Leader Bridget McKenzie discusses Foreign Minister Penny Wong's hints at running another Voice to Parliament. '60 per cent of Australia voted no to the Voice referendum,' Ms McKenzie told Sky News host Sharri Markson. 'They sent a very clear message. "They did not think changing our constitution, dividing Australians, using the Voice proposal was the way to go. 'This is actually what Penny Wong believes.'
