Maria Kovacic (NSW, Liberal Party, Shadow Assistant Minister to the Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Hansard source

The coalition will be supporting the unamended passage of the Customs Tariff Amendment (Geelong Treaty Implementation) Bill 2025. That is because, importantly, it gives effect to Australia's obligation under what is widely known as the Geelong treaty, a bilateral agreement between Australia and the United Kingdom on a key part of the AUKUS defence partnership. The treaty is also more formally known as the Nuclear-Powered Submarine Partnership and Collaboration Agreement between the Government of Australia and the Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. The treaty was signed in Geelong on 26 July 2025 by the Australian Minister for Defence, Richard Marles, and his UK counterpart, Mr John Healey.

This bill and this treaty underpin collaboration between Australia and the UK under Pillar I of AUKUS, supporting the design, construction, operation, sustainment and regulation of nuclear powered submarines. The key purpose of this bill is to give legislative expression to article XXI of the Geelong treaty, which requires both nations to waive customs duties, excise and similar charges on goods imported or exported under this treaty. It ensures that eligible goods used as part of the redesign, manufacture and deployment of AUKUS submarines can move freely between Australia and the UK, without unnecessary financial barriers. At a technical level, its key changes are to insert item 58A into schedule 4 of the Customs Tariff Act 1995, providing a duty-free rate for qualifying goods for use under the Geelong treaty; to define 'Geelong treaty' into law; and to apply concessions to both future and certain unprocessed past imports when the treaty enters into force.

The coalition supports this bill for a number of reasons, including, fundamentally, that it helps to deliver on Australia's AUKUS commitments. Passage of the bill would mark a technical but significant step toward full implementation of the AUKUS submarine program. Importantly, it also facilitates deeper industrial and technological integration with the UK, one of our two AUKUS partners, alongside the United States. It deliberately has focused and targeted application. The new trade concessions apply only to goods for use under the treaty, safeguarding against any misuse or unintended benefit for importers or exporters trading in unrelated imports. It is therefore limited to defence related goods under government-to-government or authorised contractor arrangements. It also has minimal budgetary implications, with customs duties forgone in Australia largely expected to be offset by reciprocal measures in the UK. In addition, there'll be no widescale new administrative burdens for business, as the treaty applies only to approved defence related imports. The legislation has also already been endorsed by the coalition representatives on the Joint Standing Committee on Treaties, and we should maintain this stance in the House of Representatives and the Senate.

Overall, the bill is straightforward and it enables legislative measures that directly align with Australia's AUKUS commitments, enhance the Australia-UK defence partnership and, importantly, advance Australia's strategic capability under Pillar I of AUKUS.

(Quorum formed)