Shayne Neumann (Blair, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Immigration and Border Protection) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on the Customs Amendment (Pacific Agreement on Closer Economic Relations Plus Implementation) Bill 2018 and the Customs Tariff Amendment (Pacific Agreement on Closer Economic Relations Plus Implementation) Bill 2018.

These two bills are supported by Labor. Can I say at the start that these two bills amend the Customs Act 1901 and the Customs Tariff Act 1995 respectively and implement the Pacific Agreement on Closer Economic Relations Plus. This is known as PACER Plus. It's a comprehensive free trade agreement covering goods, services and investment.

Negotiations on PACER Plus commenced in 2009 under the former Labor government and negotiations concluded in Brisbane on 20 April 2017, with 14 members of the Pacific Islands Forum. They include, of course, Australia, the Cook Islands, Nauru, New Zealand, Samoa, the Solomon Islands, Tonga and other countries. The majority of these countries signed the agreement in Tonga on 14 June 2017, and Vanuatu signed it on 7 September 2017.

Labor will support the bills, as I said, because we support the agreement, including the good it does for our region and how it will support our neighbours in the Pacific. The amendments contained in the Customs Amendment (Pacific Agreement on Closer Economic Relations Plus Implementation) Bill will enable goods that satisfy the new rules of origin to be imported into Australia with preferential rates of customs duty. These amendments implement the provisions of chapter 3 of PACER Plus and apply to all parties to the agreement.

There are complementary amendments being made, of course, to the Customs Tariff Amendment Bill, to give effect to the preferential rates of customs duty in accordance with the agreement, and the customs tariff bill provides free rates of customs duty. It inserts a new division—division 1GA—into the Customs Amendment (Pacific Agreement on Closer Economic Relations Plus Implementation) Bill 2018. When enacted, the new schedule will provide for excise equivalent rates of duty on certain alcohol, tobacco and fuel products in accordance with the agreement and amend certain concessional items in schedule 4 of the Customs Tariff Act to maintain customs duty rates in line with the applicable concessional items in accordance with the agreement.

The Department of Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade website lists the schedule of commitments on tariffs for each country under PACER Plus in explicit detail. These apply to an immense number of products from the 14 member nations, including everything from unworked cultured pearls to potatoes. In return, Pacific Island countries have committed to liberalising their own tariffs. PACER Plus will provide more predictable and secure market access for Australian exporters. This will aid many sectors, including agriculture, industry, plastics, chemicals, metal, metal products, specialised machinery and mineral fuels, just to name a few. I note there are negligible financial impacts of both bills before the House, with the impact on the forward estimates rounded to zero.

Labor believes that commissioning economic modelling on trade agreements is just plain common sense. The Turnbull government has repeatedly refused to conduct independent economic analysis, despite public and industry support. Even the government controlled Joint Standing Committee on Treaties recommended independent economic analysis of all new free trade agreements. In assessing PACER Plus, in May 2018, JSCOT recommended:

… that the Government commission independent economic analysis of all trade agreements to improve the transparency and quality of their assessment.

In January 2018 the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry said:

It’s also important that the Government does something that the Parliament has recommended and that is subject the deal to a full and proper independent economic analysis so we can be absolutely sure about where the benefits lie.

Even the Treasurer's own Harper review in 2015 recommended the analysis stating:

Trade negotiations should be informed by an independent and transparent analysis of the costs and benefits to Australia of any proposed IP provisions.

The government is arrogant and out of touch. For example, the Prime Minister has repeatedly dismissed calls from the public, industry and his own party to implement Labor's policy. He should think again. Even the former Prime Minister, the member for Warringah, commissioned independent economic modelling in Australia's trade agreement with Korea.

In government, Labor will commission independent economic modelling on trade agreements. We will urge the current government to listen to the recommendations of JSCOT and industry alike. Australia must be a leader in the South Pacific and Labor strongly supports moves to engage more closely with our neighbours in the region. PACER Plus includes an aid component to help the development of the region. Australia is providing up to $4 million of official development assistance for Pacific Island countries to prepare to ratify and implement the agreement and $19 million once the agreement comes into force.

Australia's also committed an aid-for-trade funding target of 20 per cent of Pacific ODA to help address supply-side constraints and build Pacific Island countries' capacity to trade. Another pressing need in the Pacific is infrastructure development. Australia must assist its close neighbours in their development needs. Unfortunately, under the Abbott and Turnbull governments, we haven't and our leadership role has been eroded and compromised. The out-of-touch conservatives have waged savage cuts, repeatedly, across foreign aid—up to $12 billion to take it to the lowest in history, just 22 cents for every $100 of our national income. Pacific Island states have felt the impact of these cuts, leading them to seek other countries to help fill the infrastructure gap, and the gap generally.

Labor has committed that in government it will rebuild Australia's international development assistance beyond the government's current levels. We believe Australia needs to be proactive in the region, as it helps support security and stability amongst its Pacific neighbours. As I said earlier, Labor will support these bills because we support the Pacific Agreement on Closer Economic Relations Plus. I commend the work of the shadow minister for trade and the Labor members of JSCOT for their work and holding this out-of-touch government to account. I urge the Turnbull government to continue to engage with our Pacific neighbours, to build international aid and development and to ensure shared stability of the region. I commend the bills to the House.

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