Dan Tehan (Wannon, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I would like to thank my predecessor, the member for Hughes, for a highly entertaining and thoughtful speech on the Customs Tariff Amendment (2012 Harmonised System Changes) Bill. He used some prime examples which I think were very illustrative of the importance of the bill but also was able to highlight, somewhat tongue in cheek, how ill-conceived and ill-thought-out government programs can actually distort trade. It is indeed a very sad situation for the pink batt industry here in Australia, where domestic competition has been flooded by overseas imports of pink batts. That has had a detrimental impact on the local industry, including in my home town of Hamilton. I think the member for Hughes has given a lot of thought to this bill. His illustrations of the importance of a harmonised code and those examples, in particular, of pink batts, have been able to highlight that it is better that government refrains from entering the marketplace, apart from where it is absolutely vital that it do so when there is no true competition, an issue that I know my dear friend is also very keen on. In that situation we do not mind the government looking to ensure that we have proper practices, but in other examples, as highlighted, we do not need government in our lives.

The harmonised system which is overseen by Customs is incredibly important for our international trade. For Australia, a country of 20 million people with rich resources, international trade is vitally important, so it is essential that there be well-ordered rules around that. This bill continues in that regard, making sure that every time we harmonise our tariffs, international trade can flow as smoothly as possible. That is why, on both sides of the parliament, there is support for these harmonised system changes. In relation to the six-digit codes, we have seen consolidation regarding some items which are now not traded as they were historically, whereas we have seen newer products expanding. There is then a need for those to be added in more detail to the harmonised coding system. We on this side support that purpose, as does the other side, because ultimately it will help and encourage a trading nation such as Australia.

With respect to international trade, obviously there is the World Trade Organisation multilateral agreement and there are all the rules whereby goods are traded. There are also our bilateral free trade agreements with the US, Thailand, Chile, ASEAN and New Zealand. The bill obviously will make trade within the World Trade Organisation and within our bilateral free trade agreements flow a lot more efficiently for our businesses and, once again, this is to be commended.

One thing, though, on which I do not think there is agreement by either side is what the government and, in particular, the trade minister are doing to ensure that we continue to see movement on the international trade agenda, or the bilateral trade agenda, for countries looking to further liberalise their tariffs and import duties. Sadly, today in parliament we learnt that Australia's Minister for Trade is heading overseas to the US for a WTO meeting and then will go on to Europe for the OECD meeting. He has headed over on this two-week trip. He had an op-ed piece in the Australian today which did not even mention the word 'trade,' what the purpose of his trip is and what he is trying to achieve; it was wholly focused on the budget.

I would just like to say to the trade minister that people are doing good work in harmonising tariff codes, and maybe he could concentrate on doing some work on Australia's trade agenda. All he seems to be focused on is the Treasurer's job. I know that the Treasurer is doing an appalling job but, sadly for the Minister for Trade, he also is not doing much of a job. We have seen no new initiatives in the trade area. We have seen no new calls for bilateral free trade agreements with countries. We have seen no movement whatsoever on the Doha Round. It is very sad that the leadership that Australia used to show in this area, which was very much at the forefront of pushing for further trade liberalisation, further reductions in tariff duties and customs duties, has ceased to be the case. We now get a trade minister who heads overseas for a two-week trip—it is not a trip for two days—and, even before he goes, does not enlighten the Australian people on the purpose of his visit and what he is trying to achieve.

The sad thing is that I do not think he knows what he is trying to achieve. As I said, he seems more focused on the Treasurer's job than on doing his own. I call on him to show some leadership, because my understanding is that the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and those hardworking officials within the trade sections of the department are incredibly confused by his leadership or lack thereof. They do not know what our agenda is and whether, as it sometimes is purported, we are focusing more on the multilateral arrangements and therefore we are getting a conclusion to Doha or whether, once the Prime Minister goes to Japan and China, all of a sudden we will swing back and focus on trying to conclude bilateral free trade agreements with China and Japan, which were started under the Howard government. It would be very good if he could actually sit down and concentrate on his own job rather than on the Treasurer's job and start to show some focus on where Australia needs to go with regard to its trade policy, because it is vitally important for this trading nation that we continue to push for trade liberalisation both multilaterally and bilaterally. Officials are doing their job; we see that through this bill. We have had another round of harmonised changes to customs tariffs, which is to be welcomed. It has consolidated some and expanded others, and it means that our business community, who want to trade, will be able to do so in a more effective and efficient way. What we desperately now need to see, though, is our Minister for Trade following the lead of the officials and actually sitting down and working out what he wants for Australia's trade policy and then implementing that.

We on this side support this bill. I just hope that we can see from our trade minister an application similar to the application that has gone into the tariff harmonisations.

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