Steve Fielding (Victoria, Family First Party) Share this | Hansard source

The Australian government’s management of the removal of the 40 per cent fee rebate for the Australian Quarantine and Inspection Service export certification functions is in real disarray. We have heard through the inquiry and through the Management of the removal of the rebate for AQIS export certification functions report of the Senate Rural and Regional Affairs and Transport References Committee that a common theme in submissions was that the removal of the 40 per cent rebate should not have been completed ahead of the implementation of reform. What that means is that the industry would be supportive only of the extra costs for the AQIS services that they would be liable for provided that the reform put through AQIS itself lowered the overall costs. So, as the cost came down and as the industry paid more of the costs themselves, they would level each other out and there would not be more cost to the industry.

The real problem—and I think it comes into the conclusions of this report, and this is the crux of the matter—is that the removal of the 40 per cent fee rebate for the AQIS export certification functions increases costs for Australian exporters, which could adversely affect the competitiveness of many Australian exporters and, ultimately, impact trade growth in established markets as well as new market opportunities. At a time when, as the government would say, we have a global financial crisis here, is the government whacking Australian industry with higher costs? This is the wrong time to be doing it, and it was argued by some that this should be phased in rather than it all being done at one time.

Let us look at some of the comments that were made during the inquiry. The Sheepmeat Council of Australia and the Cattle Council of Australia told the committee that the removal of the subsidy would provide ‘an incentive to progress badly needed reform within AQIS’. However, the submission by the two councils went on to state:

... if the 40 per cent fee rebate is removed without the necessary reforms being successfully implemented, Australia’s red meat producers would be forced to shoulder the full cost of inefficiencies within Australia’s monopoly export certification body. This outcome is unacceptable to red meat producers as it places Australian producers at a comparative disadvantage to our competitors in international markets who receive taxpayer funded certification services.

What does the government say? Basically, it says: ‘So what? Just pay the extra costs. Trust us—we’ll make sure that costs come down.’ They have not and they will not. The Horticulture Australia Council told the committee:

Horticulture is vehemently opposed, as we put in our submission, to the removal of the 40 per cent rebate in advance of the promised reforms. We think that is poor policy and poor timing, particularly in relation to some of the points that the other agricultural industries have been making here today.

Those are just a couple of industries that are absolutely up in arms about having to pay higher costs. The government should have been more focused on reducing those costs by getting efficiency gains rather than putting the cart before the horse and hitting our export industries at a time when they can least afford it. It is an absolute joke that the government would do this. I see that the committee’s report reaches the following conclusion:

The committee recommends that the government continues the current regulatory reform process, and commits sufficient public funds to it, until such time as all reform initiatives identified by each of the ministerial task forces have been successfully implemented.

But the first recommendation is:

...  the Senate move to disallow the Export Control (Fees) Amendment Orders 2009 (No. 1).

We had a chance previously to disallow this and to hold the government to account, and the coalition went soft. Let us hope that the coalition do not go soft the second time around and, instead, really hold this government to account so that reforms are put in place to make sure that there is not an extra cost burden put on industries that can least afford it in these tough economic times. Let us make sure that the government does the hard work—with AQIS, to start with—to get the costs down so that our industries which are exposed to international markets are not slugged unfairly.

Question agreed to.