Why I Think Rudd Is A Bloody Idiot

I know that there will be some people out there that will say that I pick on Rudd because I am a Liberal supporter, but that is only part of the reason. The fact is he does the most stupidest things that I can’t help but to make others aware of it. If the Liberals were in power and Tony Abbot was considering such action I would be just as outraged.

Today I was listening to a conversation he was having with 5AA’s radial personality Leon Byner where Leon asks his stance on on importing meat from countries where mad cow disease has been present. Remember that at the moment we do not allow this which is why we are currently free from this disease.

Mad Cow
Image by vividBreeze via Flickr

Rudd insist that they will take a conservative approach, that they will take clear ‘advice from the Australian Quarantine authorities’ and those of other experts around the world. He actually repeats at least three times that they will take the best advice before making a decision. Personally I think the decision has already been made otherwise they wouldn’t even consider such a stupid move.

I’m not an expert but I’ve done a bit of research and I’ve found some interesting facts.

  • There is no cure for someone contracting this disease, it is 100% fatal
  • Cooking beef does not make it safe, you eat cooked infected beef and you’re liable to get the disease.
  • Once infected there is a long incubation before someone shows enough symptoms for it to be diagnosed, not that it will make any difference when you consider the mortality rate.
  • The Australian Red Cross will not accept blood from anybody who has visited an infected region.
  • Our current labelling laws mean that you will have no idea whether you are buying meat or a meat product that was sourced from an infected country.

The only way to ensure we are kept safe from mad cow disease is to keep the current quarantine laws. No amount of extra revenue is worth it if it puts Australian at risk, especially considering the incubation period, so by the time we have found out we’ve been infected it would already be too late.

As for taking the best advice before making the right decision, we all know how that will pan out. It will depend on who gives the advice and who’s backing them. It will also depend on political reasons and who is behind the current push. I don’t think it’s the meat industry, more likely its more to do with the meat processing side of it and I believe most of the big processing companies have major overseas interest.


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This Post Has 2 Comments

    1. BS Artist

      Hey Pete, just goes to show that there is a first time for everything huh mate. But yeah, Rudd’s got this wrong for sure and I just hope the rest of Australia don’t let him get away with it.

      It’s getting quite a bit of air time but they’re still trying to spin their way out of it.

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