US beef ban lifted after Trump demands; Morrison tells US Congress Australia ‘going to sleep’ on China threat; top court makes key climate ruling

Cattle Australia chief executive Will Evans has said the decision to lift a ban on US beef imports contains important technical restrictions and will not create an “open slather” domestic market that could diminish Australian biosecurity standards.

Evans said there would be “lots of restrictions” in place under the new agreement, and that the trade terms still favoured Australian farmers as he expects only a small volume of US beef imports to enter Australia.

“The trade terms are not in favour of the US, the way this economy works is that we go to them,” Evans told ABC Radio National.

“In terms of trade, there could be some that comes in, there could be some boutique products that come in, but in terms of volume … my expectations would be that if there were any volumes, they’d be very low.”

Evans learnt of the revised agreement on Wednesday afternoon, saying he trusted the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry’s expertise to make a ruling that would ensure biosecurity standards weren’t compromised.

“We have to put faith in them,” Evans said.

“They’ve made this assessment themselves. They’ve said, look, we’ve looked at this. We’ve looked at the best science. This is a decision we feel comfortable with.”