The Federal Government has been accused of backflipping on its decision to import beef from countries which have had cases of BSE, or mad cow disease.

Last week the Government lifted the nine-year ban on beef imports from countries which had seen cases of BSE.

But yesterday the Government announced it was reversing its decision, keeping the ban in place but bringing in a two-year analysis period.

Agriculture Minister Tony Burke says public opinion forced him to change his mind.

“The strength of public opinion has come directly to me. It has come very strongly through a number of caucus colleagues, Labor backbench members of Parliament, and it has also come very strongly through the media as well,” he said.

Mr Burke says that for the next two years, scientists will carry out a full import risk analysis to determine what protocols should be used for safely importing beef.

“First of all we have got formal timetables, secondly we have a formal process for community consultation and thirdly the Eminent Scientists Group is involved in the decision-making process,” he said.

Mr Burke says the Government’s backflip on the decision is not a victory for the Opposition.

“I think whenever you’ve got a government decision that is involving a higher level of community involvement, and whenever Government is taking notice of strength of opinion within the community, I fail to see how that does anything other than reflect well on us,” he said.

But the Nationals’ deputy leader in the Senate, Fiona Nash, says the move shows the Government is behind in its decision making.

“If the Government were on the ball they would have listened to the Australian people long before now,” she said.

“Tony Burke is certainly playing catch up. Yet another backflip. But certainly the people of Australia would be pleased to see the proper process put into place to determine whether or not this beef should come in.”

Liberal Senator Bill Heffernan had also feared the decision jeopardised Australia’s disease-free status.

“We have the world’s cleanest, highest status for food production, and this decision [to lift the ban] concedes to the rest of the world that that doesn’t matter for trade purposes. It is absolutely an outrageous decision,” he told AM two weeks ago.

But not everyone is pleased with the reversal of the decision.

The Cattle Council of Australia supports lifting the ban on beef imports, fearing countries like the United States will not buy Australian beef if they cannot also sell in Australia.

Cattle Council president Greg Brown, who is also a far north Queensland beef producer, says the ban closes off the market.

“We are concerned about the two-year period which means that nobody – particularly our major trading partner, the United States – will be able to access this market in all that time,” he said.

For now it is status quo. There will be no British beef in Aussie pies and steaks will not come from Texas.

Mr Burke says the two-year analysis is not a way of sweeping the issue under the carpet. And he says any future decision will be based on science.

“If the science says there is a danger to community health then nothing comes in,” he said.

“If the science says there is a way of bringing in food safely, then you allow the market to work.”