According to Trade Minister Simon Birmingham, the Government was notified yesterday about the suspensions, which Chinese authorities linked to labelling and health certificate requirements.
He said he was concerned the suspensions were due to "highly technical issues", some of which dated back more than a year, arguing changes to export arrangements should be considered separately to the merits of an investigation into COVID-19.
"It's in no way related to the export arrangements for Australian beef or for Australian barley or for anything else," Senator Birmingham said.
"We certainly don't see any relationship, and we would expect that no other counterpart country should see a relationship between those factors either."
An earlier statement from Senator Birmingham said Government was working with the beef industry to find a way forward.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/rural/2020-05-12/china-trade-escalation-as-beef-farmers-are-targeted/12237468
From this it seems the abattoirs didn't make the required changes to meet Chinese requirements.
On the other hand, China made a threat of retaliation for Morrison doing the bidding of Trump.
Both interpretations are equally valid imo.
