Shayne Neumann (Blair, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Indigenous Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on the Customs Amendment (Anti-Dumping Measures) Bill 2017. Dumping occurs when goods exported to Australia are priced lower than their normal value, which can undercut the local market and manufacturers. It can include foreign subsidisation by a government in the form of financial aid, income or price support for goods exported to Australia. Dumping itself is not a prohibited practice under the World Trade Organization agreements, but antidumping duties can be imposed when dumping could cause or threatens to cause material injury to an Australian industry.

Australia's antidumping system is an important part of Australia's trade and industry policy, which is consistent with the WTO trade rules and Australia's international trade agreement obligations. Given the potential impact on local workers and manufacturers, Labor, when in government, established the Anti-Dumping Commission in July 2013. The commission is responsible for administering the system and advising the minister for industry whether duty should be imposed on goods found to have been dumped or subsidised. Measures imposed by the commission guard our local industries against unfair and uncompetitive trade practices, such as injurious dumping and subsidisation.

The bill before the chamber amends the Customs Act to address loopholes in Australia's antidumping system that allow foreign exporters to exploit the duty rate review process and then recommence injurious dumping for up to 18 months without any remedial duties in place. At a time when Australia's manufacturers are struggling with high energy costs because of the lack of leadership and poor policy direction from this government, we need to make sure that Australia's manufacturers are not faced with another challenge by being undercut by dumped foreign goods. Given this, Labor will support this bill before the chamber today.

Antidumping measures allow local businesses to be more competitive. In my electorate of Blair, I am acutely aware of the potential impacts of dumping on local businesses, including Capral Aluminium and their plant at Bundamba and G.James Glass & Aluminium in Ipswich. I've spoken about both companies in this place on numerous occasions when antidumping legislation has been before the chamber and how significant they are to my local economy. Both companies mean that local mums and dads can have meaningful work and make a living as they raise their families in the Ipswich and Somerset regions. Capral Aluminium is Australia's largest manufacturing distributor of aluminium profiles and employs over 900 workers in Australia, including 300 at their Bremer Park facility in my electorate of Blair in South East Queensland.

When I last spoke about Capral in this place, in 2012, I spoke about how their plant was operating at only 50 per cent capacity. Since then Capral said, in May 2016, that the 'recent success of the anti-dumping campaign has resulted in a significant increase in volume' and their 2016 annual report revealed production volume had risen 9.7 per cent across the company. I'm proud that changes introduced by Labor in office have led to an increase in jobs for Capral. Capral continue to demonstrate a commitment to training in my local community. In 2016, they trained 60 new production and warehouse workers to a certificate III in competitive systems training at the Bremer Park facility.

They are not alone in being a prominent business based in my electorate in Ipswich. G. James Glass & Aluminium is one of Australia's leading manufacturers of aluminium windows and aluminium doors. They are celebrating their 100th year of operation in 2017. It is vital to support Australian business and make sure that the anti-dumping regulatory environment continuously adapts to keep up with the strategies and behaviours of exporters to prevent injury to Australian industry and companies like Capral and G. James Glass & Aluminium.

Labor's commitment to Australian jobs and manufacturing was bolstered by the recent announcement of the Australian Manufacturing Future Fund. A future Shorten Labor government will invest $1 billion in Australia's advanced manufacturing to support Australian industries, grow Australian businesses and create Australian jobs. This is because Labor always support innovative Australian manufacturing firms who want to grow their businesses and create jobs. We understand that local businesses need assistance to modernise and move into high-value production to make them globally competitive. While it's true under this government businesses have closed and jobs have been sent overseas, Labor will invest in Australian businesses and create Australian jobs.

The legislation before the chamber responds to concerns that foreign exporters are gaming the system and recommencing injurious dumping after their 12-month review. There have been claims that foreign exporters are doing this by suspending exports or exporting low, subcommercial volumes at high prices in the period immediately following the imposition of anti-dumping duties. A foreign exporter can request a review of measures after a period of 12 months if they believe that the variable factors, including export price and normal value, have changed. If a company has gamed the system by purposefully exporting low volumes at high prices or ceased exporting entirely then it's difficult for the Anti-Dumping Commission to determine an appropriate, reliable export price. As a result, this often means the duty is revised to a lower rate or no rate at all. The gaming allows foreign exporters to dump sizable amounts of cheap, overseas products, such as aluminium extrusions and aluminium products, into the local market for a further 18 months with no remedial measures in place.

The amendments within this bill will help the Australian regulatory system. Given this apparent gaming in the market and the risk and severity of the impact it can have on local manufacturers and local jobs, administrative improvements to the review processes are required. We commend the government for this. This bill incorporates new methodologies for the review of measures to assist the Anti-Dumping Commission in determining an export price where no goods have been exported or goods have been exported at low volumes. The new methodologies are set out in the bill.

The specific methods will enable the minister to consider alternative information to determine the export price. This will reduce the capacity of exporters to subvert Australia's anti-dumping regime. Specific methods in the bill will apply as follows for: all reviews of measures for which an application or request is made following the date of commencement of the legislation; reviews for which an application has been lodged or requested by the minister prior to the commencement of the legislation; and reviews that have commenced prior to the commencement of the legislation but for which a decision hasn't quite yet been made.

The purpose of this retrospective application is to avoid applying a disproportionately low duty to reviews already underway, reducing the further exposure of Australian industry to injurious dumping from exporters. I note the bill's explanatory memorandum states that due to the variable frequency of antidumping reviews the revenue impact is difficult to quantify. Regardless, however, of the financial impact, Australian jobs are really critical and Australian businesses are important.

In government, Labor made significant changes to strengthen the antidumping system. That is why we took a commitment to the last federal election to ensure Australia's antidumping system had the right powers and penalties in place. We promised to ensure Australia's antidumping system was operating effectively and committed to work with the Anti-Dumping Commission to accelerate enhancements to the system. The Turnbull government's bill is consistent with Labor's policy at the last election and we thank them for that. We thank them for catching up to Labor's lead in relation to this area. I take the opportunity to thank the assistant minister for following Labor's lead on banning importations across a whole range of areas and impacts. The government could, however, follow Labor's lead in relation to the importation of highly flammable polyethylene cladding, to protect Australians from dangerous fires in their homes and workplaces.

The bill before the House was referred to the Senate Economics Legislation Committee for an inquiry that reported on 6 October 2017. As the shadow minister for immigration and border protection, I am more than aware of the Turnbull government's consistent failure to consult with stakeholders about legislative changes which may affect them. We believe in genuine consultation in this area. I note all Australian industry representatives made submissions to the Senate inquiry and they all supported the proposed introduction of measures to strengthen Australia's antidumping scheme. BlueScope Steel stated in their submission:

It became obvious that a new strategy had been employed by a large number of these exporters to exploit a 'gap' within the existing review of measures process. This strategy was simply to withdraw from exporting to Australia for 12 months and then request a review of their imposed measures. The outcome of such a strategy was to effectively guarantee a new interim anti-dumping duty of 0 %.

As a consequence, BlueScope has witnessed an immediate recommencement of exports from those countries, increasing within three months of the minister's decision by over 300 per cent, in conjunction with a price drop of around 15 per cent. This was a huge undercut to local manufacturers, the local economy and local jobs. The Australian Manufacturing Workers' Union, AMWU, concluded:

This legislation improves Australia's anti-dumping system by ensuring a more transparent and efficient review mechanism to avoid circumvention.

The CFMEU supported that as well. The AMWU indicated it remains 'open to further changes to the antidumping system to ensure injurious dumping is stamped out'.

Given the feedback by industry and by trade unions, it is important that we support this legislation. Indeed, the Senate Economics Legislation Committee recommended the bill be passed. I commend the work of Senator Kim Carr, the shadow minister for innovation, industry, science and research, for the extensive consultation in relation to the legislation before the chamber. We have consulted with a whole range of organisations about this matter. I urge the Turnbull government to follow our lead and consult widely and wisely in relation to this, as we have done.

It is clear that this bill would help close the gap in the antidumping system that has been gamed by foreign exporters. In these circumstances, we support the legislation. While antidumping measures might not be the everyday topic of conversation over a water cooler or at a barbecue, it is extremely important to the livelihood of Australia's local manufacturers and the livelihood of their workers. On this side of the chamber, we will always fight for workers. A Shorten Labor government will put middle- and working-class Australians first. We support the legislation and thank the government for following our lead.

See this speech in context