QUESTIONS WITHOUT NOTICE

Senator McDONALD (Queensland) (14:37): My question is to the Minister representing the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, Senator McCarthy. Minister, if the decision to allow US-processed beef from Canada and Mexico was genuinely based on science, why the urgency that has precluded a transparent and open consultation with the most impacted primary producers, the largest regional employers and, of course, the thousands of Australian workers potentially impacted?