Prickly response to pineapple import decision
Queensland's Agriculture Minister John McVeigh has labelled his federal counterpart a coward, saying he decided to allow Malaysian pineapple imports late on Friday to avoid scrutiny.
A Senate inquiry into the risk of importing Malaysian pineapples is due to hand down its final report next March.
But Mr McVeigh says Senator Joe Ludwig is already proceeding with plans to proceed with the imports.
"I think his announcement on Friday is very sneaky," he said.
"It was at the close of business on Friday afternoon.
"I can only assume that was to avoid industry and media scrutiny.
"There's a Senate inquiry process so I'm quite concerned by the apparent interim decision."
Senator Ludwig says no final decision has been made on the imports.
He says import guidelines will also be enforced if pineapples were imported from Malaysia.