Minister flies into multi million dollar trade brawl as opposition asks what is being done to fix it State Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry John McVeigh has been touring China this week with a trade mission. A QUEENSLAND Minister has flown into a diplomatic brawl with China after the country slapped a temporary ban on Australia's chilled beef exports over food safety claims. Agriculture Minister John McVeigh has been touring the country this week with a trade mission, following a visit from Premier Campbell Newman. The ban affects about 20 per cent of Queensland's beef exports to China and Australian trade officials have been scrambling to resolve the issue, understood to be more about a massive influx of Australian beef rather any food safety standards. However, at risk is a market that is growing at triple digit rates over the past year. Mr McVeigh said it was not a ban but China had stopped issuing import permits on chilled beef and he was working closely with Federal Government and trade officials. He has invited China's key agency, the Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine (AQISQ), to Brisbane to study its systems. Rolleston cattle farmer Howard Smith said it would have an impact on the industry, but not on the same scale as the live export ban. "It's another thing we don't need,"" Mr Smith said, citing the drought. "It (China) has been a fantastic market and it has mitigated some of the losses and other problems - if we didn't have them I don't know what we would have done."" Trade Minister Andrew Robb said the Government was working with China to maintain meat access. Deputy Opposition leader Tim Mulherin said it was embarrassing for the freeze to hit while trade missions were under way, "but more embarrassing if Mr Newman and Mr McVeigh took no action when they had the ear of Chinese authorities.""