Craig Kelly (Hughes, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I have great pleasure in rising tonight to speak on the Customs Amendment (Anti-dumping Measures) Bill (No. 1) 2015 and the Customs Tariff (Anti-Dumping) Amendment Bill 2015. I would like to make a few initial comments about dumping because you can hear from the member for Bendigo's contribution there is much confusion about this issue in many people's minds. Provisions against dumping are not about stopping so-called cheap imports. Provisions about dumping are simply about allowing a country to take action against another country whose goods are being imported at a lower cost than what they are being sold at in the home market. It is not about predatory pricing systems, selling below cost or cheapness; it is about where country A sells something for one price in their home market but when they go out into the international playing field, the export market, they sell it at a lower price. Under the World Trade Organization provisions that in itself is what is considered dumping.

Ultimately, it is simply a form of geographic price discrimination. We could call it 'international geographic price discrimination'. One thing that has always surprised me—in fact, I find it quite hypocritical—is that, if we say that geographic price discrimination is bad when we do it across international borders, how then is it an acceptable practice if it is done across interstate borders or locally within regions?

In our Trade Practices Act, we have no provisions whatsoever, unlike many other countries, to enact or have prohibitions on localised or internal geographic price discrimination. The World Trade Organization says that, if that happens internationally, it is actually bad because it can harm businesses.

It is also very difficult to prove a case of dumping. How can you compare the price in the home market with the price in the export market? You are not making an apples-for-apples comparison. How do you determine the normal price in a home market and compare the two? We know prices in today's global markets change quickly. They respond to demand. Just look at how quickly the prices of some of our commodities from iron ore to coal and oil change and in such a short period of time.

How do you make allowances for different quantity purchases? If the quantities sold in the local home market are a thousand units but 500 units for the export market, how do you make comparisons between the two? There are also credit risks. Are there greater credit risks in the home or export market? What about statutory warranties? A supplier in Australia often has to cover a lot of statutory warranties, which adds costs to selling in Australia; but those costs may not exist in foreign countries. This makes it very difficult for Customs officials to make an apples-for-apples comparison to determine if there has been a case of dumping. That is probably why it has been such a difficult area in the past.

We also need to admit that this is important legislation. It is very important that in Australia we get the legislation right—the balance right—and that it is not simply a panacea for competition in Australia to stop cheap imports.

I know the member for Bendigo was very quick to say that she wants us to be a country that manufactures goods. I think everyone in this parliament would say that but, if we are going to be a country that manufactures goods, we need to get our costs locally under control. We need to make sure that the cost of doing business here in Australia is not putting us at a competitive disadvantage. Of course we saw that under the last Labor government. They decided that Australian industry should be burdened with a carbon tax. So if I was manufacturing a product here in Australia, I would have the burden of a carbon tax; but if I was manufacturing that exact same product overseas, I would not pay a carbon tax. Misguided, confused policies like that simply put Australian industry at a competitive disadvantage and make it harder and harder for people to manufacture products in Australia.

We have got rid of the carbon tax and we have seen the biggest fall in electricity prices on record. That has helped make Australian companies more competitive, but there is still a lot more to do. We have seen the renewable energy target. If you mandate or force onto the market a higher cost and inefficient production, you simply force the price up. The renewable energy target simply forces up the price of electricity. The higher the percentage and the more gigawatts we have under the renewable energy target, the higher the cost of electricity. It is as simple as that.

We also have the threat of an ETS. We know that the current policy of the opposition, should they ever come to government, is to implement an ETS upon Australian industry. Again, many of our overseas competitors would not actually have to pay that. It would be another burden on Australian industry, which is the reason why our costs are higher.

I come to the importance of lowering electricity costs. We have seen the most disgraceful and shameful scare campaign in New South Wales on the privatisation of electricity costs. We have New South Wales members of parliament and their union mates running a terrible, disgraceful scare campaign, claiming that privatisation would lead to an increase in electricity prices.

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