Brendan O'Connor (Gorton, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Home Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

in reply—I understand that the member for Kennedy was hoping to speak. That would have been preferable, but unfortunately he is not in a position to do so right now. I thank those members who have contributed to this debate, including the shadow minister, who spoke some time ago, and the member for Page.

The Customs Tariff Amendment (Incorporation of Proposals) Bill 2009 contains several amendments to the Customs Tariff Act 1995 that were included in three customs tariff proposals that were tabled in the House of Representatives during this year. The successful passage of this bill through the parliament will enable the formal incorporation of the alterations contained in these proposals in the customs tariff.

New item 41H provides duty-free entry for goods for use in testing, quality control, manufacturing evaluation or engineering development of motor vehicles designed or engineered in Australia but not necessarily manufactured in Australia. This new item benefits the automotive manufacturing industry.

Recent legislation passed by the parliament to amend the customs tariff did not include subsequent increases in duty rates for certain alcohol and tobacco products. Customs Tariff Proposal (No. 2) and Customs Tariff Proposal (No. 4) were tabled in the House of Representatives to apply rates of duty to these goods to reflect these increased rates. Without this action, there would have been a loss of government revenue and discrepancies between imported and domestically manufactured alcohol and tobacco products.

I conclude by thanking those who have contributed to the debate. I understand the opposition is supportive of the bill. I commend it to the House.

Question agreed to.

Bill read a second time.

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