Peter Dutton (Dickson, Liberal Party, Minister for Immigration and Border Protection) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That this bill be now read a second time.

The Import Processing Charges Amendment Bill 2015 is one bill in a package that deals with legislative changes to the Import Processing Charges Act 2001 to implement measures announced as part of the 2014-15 budget, following the completion of the joint review of border fees, charges and taxes.

The other two bills are the Customs Amendment (Fees and Charges) Bill 2015 and the Customs Depot Licensing Charges Amendment Bill 2015.

There are three main changes covered in this bill. The first will broaden the cost base for import declaration and warehouse declaration charges, by recovering the cost of the Department of Immigration and Border Protection's cargo and trade related reform initiatives. This will be in addition to the direct cargo and trade related costs that are recovered through existing import declaration and warehouse declaration charges. The charges will increase as a result of the wider cost base.

The second change is that this bill will simplify charging arrangements, by removing the price differential between charges for sea cargo, air cargo and postal import declarations and warehouse declarations. The same charge will apply regardless of the way in which goods are imported. This change better reflects that border clearance and risk assessment activities are generally the same for all goods, regardless of the cargo stream by which they arrive.

The third change is that this bill will introduce a standard higher charge for documentary import declarations and warehouse declarations, to that imposed on electronic declarations. A consistent price better reflects that the additional work required to process documentary declarations does not vary depending on the value of the goods, or the pathway by which they entered Australia.

The changes to import declaration and warehouse declaration charges contained in this bill comply with the Commonwealth's cost recovery guidelines. They are consistent with the requirements of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, as the revised charges will not exceed the approximate cost of cargo and trade related processing activities.

The changes contained in this bill will come into effect on 1 January 2016, and will generate additional net revenue of approximately $106.4 million over the forward estimates.

These changes will provide a more equitable application of border import processing charges, ensuring that costs are evenly distributed across all imported goods, regardless of whether they come by sea, air or post.

I commend the bill to the House.

Debate adjourned.