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

in reply—I would like to thank the member for Stirling for his contribution to the debate and for his support for the bill. The Customs Tariff Amendment Bill (No. 1) 2010 contains amendments to the Customs Tariff Act 1995 that insert or vary end dates for three concessional items in schedule 4. Successful passage of this bill through the parliament will enable the incorporation of these amendments in the customs tariff to give effect to recent government decisions and to provide certainty to importers.

The cessation of the Expanded Overseas Assembly Provisions Scheme and the early cessation of the Product Diversification Scheme implement a component of the government’s TCF innovation package, as announced in the 2009-10 budget. This package will provide assistance to the textile, clothing and footwear industry through grants rather than through a combination of grants and duty concessions. Importers in the Australian industry producing TCF goods are aware of the pending changes through budget announcements and through advice from the Department of Innovation, Industry, Science and Research.

Concessional items 61 and 73 in the customs tariff give effect to duty concessions under these schemes. The items are therefore no longer required and are being end dated. For item 61, the end date is 30 June this year. For item 73, the end date is 30 June 2011. While importers will no longer be able to earn duty credits under the Product Diversification Scheme after 30 June 2010, the end date of 30 June 2011 for item 73 will provide importers with an additional 12 months to use those credits.

Item 53C in schedule 4 of the customs tariff provided a mechanism to reduce the general rate of customs duty from 10 per cent to five per cent for certain goods that were not of a kind used in passenger motor vehicles. However, when the customs duty for motor vehicle components fell from 10 per cent to five per cent on 1 January this year, item 53C became redundant. The insertion of an end date of 31 December 2009 in item 53C was previously given effect through Customs Notice (No.3) 2009 and the tabling of Customs Tariff Proposal No.1 (2010). I commend the bill to the House.

Question agreed to.

Bill read a second time.

Ordered that the bill be reported to the House without amendment.

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