Shayne Neumann (Blair, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Perhaps the member for Wentworth would like another title rather than the shadow minister for broadband and telecommunications. Perhaps he is aspiring to another one, rather than just the member for Wentworth. The member for Blaxland is also a minister with responsibility for this particular jurisdiction and introduced this legislation. He happens to be the Minister for Home Affairs and Justice, something that you may aspire to someday yourself, Mr Turnbull.

There were 400 stakeholders who contacted the inquiry that was conducted by former Premier John Brumby in relation to this issue. The report found that the workload of administration in this particular area had increased significantly and we needed to get this out of the customs and trade measures area and into a stand-alone commission with legislative guidance for the commission's work with increased resources.

We did announce that package in December 2012 and the minister said in a press release when introducing this particular legislation that we would do this, we would create a commissioner's role with legislative guidance and that:

The Commissioner will be responsible for decision-making and other anti-dumping related functions that currently rest with the CEO of Customs and Border Protection.

I think that enhances the legal and financial status in relation to this particular area.

This is very important for my electorate. It is very important for not just many plants across the country, but the Ipswich and West Moreton region has a very important company called Capral, which is a manufacturer of aluminium extrusion products. It is about a 77-year-old Australian company which employs over 900 people across the country. At Bremer Park industrial estate in Ipswich there are 330 workers. Capral can take a 400-kilogram aluminium billet—traditionally it sources that from Australian smelters and turn it into an everyday product—extruding, ageing and finishing that aluminium into numerous shapes and sizes. I had the benefit of seeing that and being there on many occasions. In fact, I can recall I went to a dinner at that particular plant with the member for Oxley, if I remember rightly, where Capral showed what it can do. It was extraordinary capacity. That plant is currently running at about 60 per cent capacity.

The business manager there, Sven Gade, has done a great job and that particular business was honoured on 8 November 2011 in the Chamber of Commerce and Industry Business Awards. He was named the Ipswich Chamber of Commerce Business of the Year at the Ipswich Civic Centre. Sven thanked the Capral team and made the point in his speech that night, that over the past years—talking about the employees—they have been instrumental in steering Capral through one of the toughest manufacturing environments imaginable. Despite the ailing building construction market, Capral has gone from strength to strength. I am pleased that they have increased the number of workers there from 300 to 330.

I have taken the member for Blaxland and the Minister for Justice and Home Affairs to Capral, and I have taken his predecessor to Capral. Phil Jobe has been the CEO of Capral nationally, and I want to pay tribute to Phil's advocacy in relation to this issue. Phil said when he was the managing director of Capral—relating to the reforms that the minister had put in place and what the federal Labor government had done—he was 'pleased with the reforms the government has announced'.In the Queensland Times he made the comment:

The plant at Bremer is world class. It has got the latest technology, it has got a highly skilled workforce and can compete with the best plants in the world. What it can't compete against is products in countries where they are subsidised by governments and where they manipulate their currency. We've been campaigning strenuously for three years for major reform in the anti-dumping regime in Australia that would allow a company such as Capral to put either new cases in or revised cases in that would improve the remedies available to us.

The fact that he happened to thank me and the member for Oxley is neither here nor there. I want to pay tribute to Phil. On 19 December 2002, the board of Capral announced that Phil, whose contract as CEO expires on 15 April 2013, advised that he will not be extending his contract. He did tell me in an email that he would remain as a non-executive director and that Capral had asked him to continue his advocacy in anti-dumping reform. He said he remained passionate about that particular role, and he would continue to do so.

I am sure that the minister will continue to hear Phil's advocacy for reform. I know that the minister has said that this is yet another part of our reform process and that there is much more to be done.

We are determined to make sure that injurious dumping—which is inconsistent with the international trade rules, reduces competition and afflicts our markets and affects our workers—cannot continue. We have built on the reforms that we announced in the past through the streamlining of this legislation announced when Minister Brendan O'Connor was the Minister for Justice and Home Affairs back in June 2011. We have made sure that there is a requirement for the minister to make decision in 30 years. We have improved the locus standi of organisations to bring applications in court. This is a particularly complicated area of the law. I have read on numerous occasions advice from Queen's counsel about cases that Capral have been fighting in relation to anti-dumping.

A more effective anti-dumping scheme will support jobs nationally and in Queensland, particularly in the large manufacturing areas around Brisbane and Ipswich. I support this legislation. We on this side of the House are supportive of free trade but we want to make sure that that trade is fair as well. This legislation is good for the local economy and for local jobs in my electorate.

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