Nicola Roxon (Gellibrand, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Attorney-General) Share this | Hansard source

I move:

        Schedule 1, item 1, page 9, after subclause (5), (after line 15) insert

     (5A)    If the goods are goods of the kind specified in tariff item 3402.20. in Annex G to ANZCERTA Product Specific Rules of Origin published in March 2006 the regulations must specify that the goods are required to have a regional value content of at least 50%.

I think I have already covered the purpose of the amendment I am moving: it is to ensure that a business in my electorate is able to continue successfully manufacturing products and employing 65-odd constituents. The amendment I am moving is a very small and simple exemption that the government could make that would ensure that those jobs in my electorate are protected. They could agree to exempt tariff line 3402.20 from the changes that are proposed in this bill. As I flagged, the government has repeatedly ignored numerous representations by the company, me and my colleagues and the recommendations on this change of its own Joint Standing Committee on Treaties. The government has indicated it will not pursue negotiations with New Zealand on this tariff line. They have given no indication that the necessary exemption will be included in regulations, a method that would also be possible. Labor is moving this amendment because the government has failed to negotiate in any way to save these 65 jobs in my electorate.

I must remind the House that asking for such an exemption is not new. The regulations to this bill will include exemptions for the gentlemen’s apparel and automotive industries, as has already been discussed. The government recognised that cheaper, dumped products from countries like China could hurt these Australian industries, but this amendment simply provides the same protection to Australian detergent manufacturing and the $7 million in exports generated by Albright and Wilson as is given to some other industries. The amendment ensures that the existing method for calculating regional content for the tariff line is retained. Without this amendment, Albright and Wilson estimate that they will lose at least 20 per cent of the factory turnover at Yarraville and that this will put all of their jobs in jeopardy. I urge the government to reconsider its position. It is a small amendment. It is an easy amendment; it does not have an impact on the rest of the negotiated agreement. We strongly support this amendment.

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