Cattle Council of Australia president, Greg Brown, this morning said the Rural and Regional Affairs Committee had been "mischievous" in raising the issue of BSE (bovine spongiform encephalopathy) so publicly through the inquiry.

He went further to say the public airing of the issue was "damaging" to the Australian cattle industry.

In a fiery third inquiry into the decision to relax the import ban, the Cattle Council itself was also accused of mischievous statements by Liberal Party Senator, Julian McGauran, who said the previous Government did not intend to change the BSE arrangements as claimed by the council.

Mr Brown criticised the committee for raising the issue of BSE "in the public eye to this extent".

The claims were fiercely rejected by committee chairman, Fiona Nash, and a retraction was requested (although not given) by NSW Senator Bill Heffernan.

Mr Brown explained the decision, and support of it by major cattle industry bodies, was about "valuing a trading customer" and Australia's most important market.

He said America's cattle trade should not be seen as Australia's enemy, adding he did not foresee major changes to the amounts of beef being sent to Australia as a result of the change.

Cattle Council director, Peter Hall, went further to say the benefits to the Australian cattle industry should be seen as an "insurance policy".

"We advocate free trade," he said.

Meat and Livestock Australia managing director, David Palmer said it was his view that Australia would not be swamped with large increases in beef imports.

Mr Brown did not rule out that this decision could be about helping the US get access to the prized Korean and Japanese beef markets.

WA Liberal Senator, Chris Back, said he feared the impacts of the decision could be two-fold – the possible deterioration of the domestic market by the threat of imports, and the dissipation of Australia's market advantage in countries like Japan and Korea.

Mr Palmer reiterated his belief that Australia's industry was strong and robust would not suffer from this decision.

The new trade arrangements start next Monday.