The US administration is claiming the win for the government removing some restrictions on US beef imports into Australia.
Trump has been piling pressure on Australia to drop the restrictions, and open up market access for American farmers.
US secretary of agriculture Brooke L. Rollins issued a statement, titled “Make Agriculture Great Again Trade Wins: President Trump Secures Greater Ag Market Access to Australia for American Beef”.
She said it was “absurd” that the trade barriers had been in place for the last two decades.
American farmers and ranchers produce the safest, healthiest beef in the world. It’s absurd that non-scientific trade barriers prevented our beef from being sold to consumers in Australia for the last 20 years. Gone are the days of putting American farmers on the sidelines.
This is yet another example of the kind of market access the President negotiates to bring America into a new golden age of prosperity, with American agriculture leading the way.
Updated at 23.17 EDT
Key events
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Before the questions begin, there’s a condolence motion for the former Gippsland MP Peter Nixon, a former National Country party MP.
He died in May this year.
Updated at 00.05 EDT
Get excited folks, it’s almost question time (the second and last one for the first sitting week).
Updated at 00.00 EDT
Littleproud says he has not received scientific evidence informing decision to lift US beef ban
David Littleproud says the agriculture department hasn’t been able to provide him the scientific evidence underpinning the decision to lift restrictions on US beef imports.
The Nationals have raised suspicion over the timing of the decision.
The department has been looking at biosecurity settings around US beef imports for 10 years, but the timing of this decision comes soon after the Trump administration criticised Australia for not allowing enough market access for US cattle farmers.
Littleproud says there should be an independent scientific panel review of the department’s decision.
Earlier today I was given a briefing on the changes of protocols with respect to importing US beef. Unfortunately, that has raised more questions than provided answers. It has raised my suspicion about the speed and timing of this decision.
Updated at 23.49 EDT
‘People say they’re from the country, get it right’: Joyce corrects Tehan’s comment on ‘steers fighting’
Barnaby Joyce can’t seem to get enough of the press gallery this week, returning to Sky News earlier today, talking about bulls and steers.
But that wasn’t in the context of the decision to lift restrictions on beef imports from the US.
Yesterday, Liberal MP Dan Tehan referred to Joyce and Michael McCormack as “two steers fighting in the neighbour’s paddock”.
Joyce replied on air:
The people say they’re from the country, get it right. Steers don’t fight. We castrate them so they don’t, right. Steers have their testicles removed …
Bulls moo. Bulls fight.
And he proceeded to pretend to be a bull (fingers as horns and all).
It was a bit of a dig at Tehan, who is from the country, holds a regional seat and whose father ran a cattle and sheep farm.
All of this stems from an ongoing fight in the nationals partyroom over the future of net zero policy, and the future of David Littleproud’s leadership. Joyce and McCormack have said their push to repeal the climate target isn’t to undermine Littleproud – but that doesn’t stop the speculation.
Updated at 23.40 EDT
Attempt to refer PM’s staffing allocation power to committee shot down in Senate
The opposition and crossbench tried to refer the prime minister’s power to determine staffing allocations to a committee a bit earlier in the Senate, but were voted down by the government and Greens.
The prime minister has the power to determine how many advisory staff political parties get, and was criticised by the opposition last month for reducing their staff allocations after the election.
In 2022 the Albanese government was under fire for cutting the number of crossbencher advisers from four to just one.
Fatima Payman – the Labor turned independent senator – tried to refer the finance committee to investigate whether the PM should keep that power.
Her motion was backed by the opposition and members of the crossbench, but failed 34 votes to 29.
Updated at 23.35 EDT
Patrick Commins
End of US beef restrictions likely won’t mean an influx of imports
The ban on American beef imports has been lifted after 22 years, but the political and diplomatic implications of the decision far outweigh the practical.
For one, and as has been noted, the US cattle industry is in no position to start sending their produce down under.
American herds are at a multi-decade low, and farmers are slaughtering fewer animals than they were a year ago. That has led to some beef prices in the US hitting record highs in recent months.
No surprise, then, that American beef exports in the first five months of 2025 are down 5% on the same period last year, and down 10% on the year before that – and 20% lower than in 2022.
“Unless US beef prices decline dramatically, we do not expect any large volumes of beef to be sent to Australia in the short to medium term,” says Dennis Voznesenski, an analyst at CBA.
To cover the lack of domestic beef supply, American imports year-to-date to July are up 17% on the same seven months in 2024, at 912,000 tonnes.
Imports from Australia are up 35% at 228,000 tonnes, Voznesenski says.
Once the US cattle herd is rebuilt in coming years, exports could increase.
Even then, Australia has a history of exporting far more to the US than we import.
As Voznesenski notes, in the 20 years to 2003 (when American beef was banned due to a case of mad cow disease), we imported an average of 23 tonnes of US beef a year.
In contrast, our average annual export volume to the US was 230,000 tonnes.
Updated at 23.29 EDT
Josh Butler
‘We’re hitting a “grandkid moment”’: Husic says future generations will question inaction over Gaza
The Labor MP Ed Husic says the federal government should be prepared to “ramp up sanctions” on Israel in response to the deteriorating humanitarian situation in Gaza.
Husic joined a press conference in Parliament House today – also attended by former Labor senator Fatima Payman, and crossbenchers David Pocock and Kate Chaney – to condemn the lack of aid and food being allowed into Gaza. Pocock said he would present a petition of 65,000 signatures to the Senate, from Médecins Sans Frontières, calling for the Australian government to do more in seeking a resolution to the crisis.
Labor member for Chifley Ed Husic speaks to the media during a press conference at Parliament House. Photograph: Lukas Coch/AAP
The Albanese government this week joined an international statement warning “the suffering of civilians in Gaza has reached new depths”, and expressing horror “that over 800 Palestinians have been killed while seeking aid. The Israeli government’s denial of essential humanitarian assistance to the civilian population is unacceptable.”
Husic, who has spoken consistently on Gaza, said the large number of signatures on the petition showed “people in the public domain do not want to be silent themselves and they do not want the parliament to be silent and they want the government to act”:
If this was happening to us, we’d want people in other parts of the world to have a view and take a stand and stop the suffering …
We’re hitting a ‘grandkid moment’. The ones that follow us are going to ask us all – at this point, confronted with one of the biggest moral, humanitarian [issues], and frankly this is a matter of conscience as well – what we did, to speak up and press for action to stop this?
Husic noted the government’s joining of the global joint statement, and added: “we do need to do more … The government should be prepared to work with others to ramp up sanctions in a coordinated way, absolutely.”
Updated at 23.21 EDT
Benita Kolovos
Loophole in app used to access Working with Children checks to be fixed within days, Victoria government says
The Victorian government has admitted to a “loophole” within an app used to access working with children checks and says it will be rectified within days.
The Herald Sun on Thursday reported the Service Victoria in-app QR code reader can be tricked and used to gain access to someone’s WWCC. The report said in theory “a predator could quickly gather validation to prove they can work with children”.
But government minister, Mary-Anne Thomas, says attempting to impersonate someone else to gain employment was an offence. She told reporters this morning:
In order for a working with children’s check to be processed, that working with children’s check must match with the person’s identity, and any attempt to use another person’s card or to defraud the system in any way, is actually an offence that is punishable by up to two years in jail. But being aware of this loophole, we will fix it, and we’ll do that in coming days.
Thomas added the WWCC system was “outdated” and work was already underway to improve it.
Updated at 23.25 EDT
‘Make agriculture great again’: US claims win over beef access
The US administration is claiming the win for the government removing some restrictions on US beef imports into Australia.
Trump has been piling pressure on Australia to drop the restrictions, and open up market access for American farmers.
US secretary of agriculture Brooke L. Rollins issued a statement, titled “Make Agriculture Great Again Trade Wins: President Trump Secures Greater Ag Market Access to Australia for American Beef”.
She said it was “absurd” that the trade barriers had been in place for the last two decades.
American farmers and ranchers produce the safest, healthiest beef in the world. It’s absurd that non-scientific trade barriers prevented our beef from being sold to consumers in Australia for the last 20 years. Gone are the days of putting American farmers on the sidelines.
This is yet another example of the kind of market access the President negotiates to bring America into a new golden age of prosperity, with American agriculture leading the way.
Updated at 23.17 EDT
Bridget McKenzie says CSIRO could carry out review into lifting US beef import ban
Bridget McKenzie has suggested the CSIRO could review the science behind the decision to lift restrictions on imports of US beef.
McKenzie told Sky News the timing is “exquisite” (Littleproud said it was “suspicious” earlier this morning), and said it seemed to be a “quick assessment”.
Assessment of the biosecurity settings have been reviewed for the last ten years, and the government has said this morning that Australia’s biosecurity will not be compromised.
If the protocols and the science around that is rigorous enough, of course, we’re going to support that, but we’re not going to damage our $11bn beef export industry to appease the breakdown in a relationship between the Albanese government [and Trump administration]…
I think the timing is exquisite for the Labor party, and that’s why we’d like to see an independent review.
Updated at 22.49 EDT
ICJ ruling on fossil fuel-related reparations should be ‘turning point’ for Labor, Greens say
The Greens say an International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruling that nations who fail to curb fossil fuels could be ordered to pay reparation should be a “turning point” for the Labor government on climate action.
The Greens leader, Larissa Waters, wrote on X that the ICJ ruling makes clear that “every one of Labor’s new coal or gas approvals risks Australia being legally liable for the climate consequences”. She wrote:
This should be a turning point. Fossil fuel profits cannot override a climate safe future.
Our Pacific neighbours led the way at The Hague demanding climate justice and Australia must now follow their lead. Labor should support the Greens climate trigger bill to stop flagrantly breaching international law and bring our Howard-era environmental laws into this century.
For more background on how this case came to the international court, have a read of this story from my colleague Kate Lyons:
Updated at 22.32 EDT