Joel Fitzgibbon (Hunter, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Treasurer and Revenue) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I want to take this opportunity to pose to the Minister for Revenue and Assistant Treasurer a question I did not have time to submit during the second reading debate. I invite him to either answer the question now or, using the usual channels, get back to me at a later date. The question is in relation to the new customs regime as it relates to biodiesel and ethanol. I ask the minister to inform the House: what is the precise schedule of changes for the reduction of customs for these products until the full introduction of the new fuel tax regime? Indeed, we are seeking a table of annual customs rates for these products up until 2020.

What I am referring to here is the customs tariff which is imposed on the importation of biodiesel and ethanol. Members of the House with an interest in these matters will recall that some years ago in what was considered a very controversial move the Prime Minister decided to impose for the first time the full weight of taxation on ethanol and, I think, biodiesel right up to the 38.147c mark but to grant a production subsidy to domestic producers rendering or maintaining the tax-free status of domestically produced ethanol. In other words, overnight we had no import competition in ethanol and biofuels. The imported product would face more than a 38c tax imposition while the domestic industry would face no tax at all.

During the second reading debate, I spoke about the looming regime for the domestic market commencing in 2011, phasing in over, I think, five years, based on energy content discounted to 50 per cent. My question relates to what is now happening with imports. While the Prime Minister has not made a big deal of it, to the best of my knowledge, the time is soon coming when there will be parity between the taxation principles as they apply to domestically produced ethanol and biodiesel and how they relate to imported ethanol and biodiesel. So I want clarification on the point of the phase-in, step-by-step detail of how the phase-in will take place and where the taxation arrangements will end up in terms of parity between the domestically produced product and the imported product. It would be appreciated if the minister could give some indication of that now, but if he needs more time to give us the detailed schedules we will be more than happy to give him that time.

Peter Dutton (Dickson, Liberal Party, Minister for Revenue and Assistant Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

In response to the question of the honourable member for Hunter, as he would be aware, the customs rate is currently 38.143c per litre and will be so in the future. The effective tax rate is provided in other mechanisms. As to the finer detail of implementation, I will undertake to provide as much detail as I am able in another form.

Joel Fitzgibbon (Hunter, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Treasurer and Revenue) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the Minister for Revenue and Assistant Treasurer for that response. I also seek a commitment from him that, if it is not the intention of the government to make those schedules available before the eventual phase-in of the reduction of the tax on imports, he endeavour to ensure that they are brought forward in advance—in other words, that the government does not wait some four to five years before it makes an announcement of what is the eventual parity between the domestically produced product and the imported product.

Bill agreed to.