Honourable Member:

An honourable member interjecting—

And facsimiles—thank you to the member for Leichhardt. You just wouldn't want to be in that sort of business right now.

However, there will be new classifications created for products with increasing or diversifying patterns of trade—not that I would want to be in this sort of business, but edible insects, for example, are the 'in' thing! There will be changes in relation to those things. Other certain electronic components will also see new classifications because of increasing patterns of consumption. I don't know why anybody would want to eat edible insects, but I guess that's a matter for them!

There will also be new classifications created to improve the monitoring of goods such as e-waste, and chemicals and substances controlled under international conventions such as the chemical weapons convention and the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer. We all remember that chlorofluorocarbons used to be in fly spray and all the aerosols. Australia banned those, with good reason, because they deplete ozone.

As a rule, changes Australia implements to its tariff code are required to be consistent with the updated harmonised system on a duty rate neutral basis—that is, whatever duty rate applies to goods under the old classification will continue to apply to the good under its new classification. For the current update, three categories of goods cannot be updated on a duty rate neutral basis. These three categories of goods are: flat panel displays; semiconductor based transistors; and electronic waste and scrap. We will create new classifications for these three categories of goods as part of the 2022 harmonised system. Goods will transfer to these new classifications from many different existing classifications, which means it's not possible to maintain all the different duty rates that may have applied to these goods. The duty rates for these three categories of goods will be set as 'free', to ensure that no importers are worse off.

To be a little controversial—I'm never one to turn away from being a little controversial!—I want to turn to the changes to tobacco products. To any kids that might be listening to this: if you're smoking, tobacco is not good for you. Don't smoke, kids. If you're in the car, you shouldn't be smoking in the car. If you're a parent with kids in the back, you shouldn't be smoking with kids in the back. If you're an adult and you want to smoke: I'd love to be able to say you should just go ahead and do it, but you're not only impacting on your own health and your family's health; you're impacting on the public purse, because chances are you're going to get sick before you should get sick, and the public is going to have to look after you when you go into hospital. If you're smoking right now, put it out and quit smoking. You will be all the better for it.

However, I digress. The changes to tobacco products as part of the 2022 harmonised system will create a new classification for tobacco products intended for inhalation without combustion. These are the new fandangled e-cigarettes for vaping. I don't know too much about vaping; I will probably get lots of emails about vaping now because I've said that! What I do know is that they are full of chemicals. I've heard the argument before that vaping turns people away from cigarettes; I don't know if that's true or not. But breathing in chemicals can't be good for you, can it? It just can't be good for you. If you are smoking cigarettes or vaping, put it aside; it's probably not good for you. But if you are going to continue to vape, these goods are currently classified as 'other tobacco' and have an excise equivalent customs duty of $1,576.50 per kilogram of tobacco content applied. We need to amend the Customs Act to ensure that this new classification falls within the scope of existing border measures for tobacco products. This means importers will continue to pay duty on these goods at the border, like for all other tobacco products, so there is no new risk to the revenue, because that's all-important. We also need to amend the Customs Tariff Act to ensure that the excise-equivalent customs duty rates applied to these goods is indexed twice a year, like other tobacco.

Mr Deputy Speaker Vasta, I know you are on the edge of your seat right now, but I want to conclude by saying that these changes will help Australian businesses. Australian businesses, both importers and exporters, are expecting these changes to be implemented by 1 January 2022. Ensuring Australia's tariff code reflects the most up to date version of the harmonised system will make it easier for our importers and our exporters to trade with other countries—and, as I said at the opening of my speech, that is a very important thing. We have to be able to trade with the world. These sorts of technical bills, whilst as boring as they possibly can be, are very, very important not just for our businesses but also for our country's revenue. The sooner the amending legislation is introduced into parliament, the sooner businesses can begin preparing for the new version of the harmonised system.

Australia was able to secure a number of important outcomes requested by Australian businesses in the process of negotiating the update to the harmonised system. I know, Mr Deputy Speaker Vasta, you're wondering what changes we were able to secure, and that's a very good question. These priority outcomes included securing our preferred definition of virgin olive oil, a single classification code for placebos and clinical trial kits, our preferred classification for LED lighting products and a separate classification for synthetic diamonds.

The harmonised system has 97 chapters—almost as long as this speech!—split into headings and subheadings. Each heading and subheading has a unique code and description which can be used to classify all tradeable goods. These codes and descriptions are agreed by all 198 members of the World Customs Organization, including Australia. Australia independently determines the customs duties that apply to goods traded into Australia. We use the structure provided by the harmonised system, supplemented by domestic subheadings, to identify those goods that are subject to Australian customs duties. I am of a mind to ask for an extension of time, but I think I'll leave it there!

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