Sussan Ley (Farrer, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Justice and Customs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The coalition supports the purpose of the Customs Tariff Amendment (Incorporation of Proposals) Bill 2009, which is to amend the Customs Tariff Act 1995 to incorporate alterations that were considered in customs tariff proposals tabled in the House of Representatives during 2009. There have been three such customs tariff proposals:

Customs Tariff Proposal (No.1) 2009, to create a new concessional item 41H in schedule 4 to the Customs Tariff;

Customs Tariff Proposal (No.2) 2009, to amend rates of customs duty for certain alcohol and tobacco products in schedule 7 of the Customs Tariff (Chilean originating goods); and

Customs Tariff Proposal (No.4) 2009, to amend rates of customs duty for certain beer and grape wine products.

Schedule 1 of the bill creates a new concessional item 41H in schedule 4 to the Customs Tariff Act. Item 41H provides duty-free entry into Australia for goods for use in the testing, quality control, manufacturing evaluation or engineering development of motor vehicles designed or engineered in Australia but not necessarily manufactured in Australia. The new item will encourage automotive manufacturers to undertake design and engineering work for the international automotive market, and will reduce administrative costs in importing such equipment.

Schedule 2 of the bill amends rates of duty for certain alcohol and tobacco products that are imported under the Australia-Chile Free Trade Agreement. The legislation that gave effect to Australia’s tariff commitments under that agreement did not include subsequent increases in the excise equivalent component of customs duty for these goods. Schedule 2 of the bill applies the increased rates of duty for these goods where required from the commencement of the free trade agreement on 6 March 2009. This ensures that customs duty imposed on alcohol and tobacco products imported under the Australia-Chile Free Trade Agreement is the same as the duty imposed on these goods when imported from other countries and is also the same as duties of excise imposed on these goods when manufactured in Australia.

Schedule 3 of the bill amends rates of duty for certain beer and grape wine products. The Customs Tariff Amendment (2009 Measures No.1) Act 2009 provided revised definitions for beer and grape wine products in the Customs Tariff Act. Schedule 3 of the bill applies the increased rates of duty as required to beer and grape wine products from the dates of commencement of the legislation on 28 August 2009. This ensures that customs duty imposed on these beer and grape wine products is consistent with duty imposed on other alcohol products and with the excise duty imposed when these products are manufactured in Australia. The coalition supports the passage of this bill.

Janelle Saffin (Page, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Customs Tariff Amendment (Incorporation of Proposals) Bill 2009 will amend the Customs Tariff Act 1995, thus incorporating measures that were contained in the three customs tariff proposals tabled earlier this year. They are Customs Tariff Proposals (No. 1) 2009, (No. 2) 2009 and (No. 4) 2009. These amendments give effect to Australia’s international obligations regarding the duty-free entry into Australia of certain goods and to appropriate increases of customs duty.

The way the system works, as I deduced from my reading of the bill, the explanatory memorandum and the Minister for Home Affairs’ second reading speech, is that the customs tariff regime of proposals, duties and other measures arising is first tabled in the House and given immediate applicability; that is, it is given the protection that the legislation which follows later has. It gives effect but within a certain time frame the legislation has to be introduced—it appears to be 12 months. A specific amending bill needs to be passed to complete all legislative requirements. This of course can, prima facie, raise the issue of giving effect retrospectively but it is not retrospective in the sense that this is more by way of a procedural operation because of the overall system and not a matter of substance, and it thereby does not vitiate the rule of law that prohibits retrospectivity. Such a scheme enables the customs tariff regime to be responsive to policy changes and calibrations and does so in this very practical way. Those officers who implement the scheme are given the necessary protections while the proposals are operative, which is essential.

Customs Tariff Proposal (No. 1) was tabled in the House on 11 February 2009 and created a new concessional item 41H. This item provides duty-free entry into Australia for goods for use in the testing, quality control, manufacturing evaluation or engineering development of motor vehicles designed or engineered in Australia but not necessarily manufactured in Australia. The item will encourage automotive manufacturers to undertake design and engineering work for the international automotive market and will reduce administrative costs in importing such equipment. Anything that can help to reduce administrative costs has to be a good thing for business and a good thing for research and development.

Customs Tariff Proposal (No. 2) 2009 was tabled in the House of Representatives on 25 February 2009. Customs Tariff Proposal (No. 2) increased rates of customs duty for certain alcohol and tobacco products applicable to goods imported under the Australia-Chile Free Trade Agreement. The Customs Tariff Amendment (Australia-Chile Free Trade Agreement Implementation) Act 2008 gave effect to the Australia-Chile Free Trade Agreement but did not take into account the subsequent alterations to the customs tariff as a result of the February 2009 CPI increases and increased duty for certain spirit based alcoholic beverages known as alcopops—a matter we have debated at length in this place.

Customs Tariff Proposal (No. 4) 2009 was tabled in the House of Representatives on 16 September 2009. Customs Tariff Proposal (No. 4) increased rates of customs duty for certain beer and grape wine products as a consequence of the August 2009 CPI increases. We needed Customs Tariff Proposal (No. 2) and Customs Tariff Proposal (No. 4) so that there would not be loss of government revenue and discrepancies between imported and domestically manufactured alcohol and tobacco products.

In closing, I can say that the successful passage of this bill would enable the amended duty rates to be incorporated into the customs tariff prior to February 2010 and provide the certainty that is required for importers. That is an important thing. We have to have that certainty. It is an exacting business, importing and exporting, and all the importers and exporters that I talk to always mention certainty. A lot of them also talk about having a single window. If you have a look, Madam Deputy Speaker, at what has to be navigated in the whole area of import and export, you will see that it is quite an exacting business, with all the things that have to be done. Through my work as Chair of the Trade Subcommittee of the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade, I get to meet a lot of exporters and importers—all the various groups—so I have had extensive conversations with people who are doing this. Anything that we can do to bring further certainty to that area is welcome.

I welcome this amending bill for the reasons that I have outlined—that it brings certainty, it gives legislative effect to the proposals that were tabled in the House earlier this year and it makes sure that the customs officers who implement those proposals are given the legislative certainty that is required within that particular time frame. With those comments, I commend the bill to the House.

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

in reply—I understand that the member for Kennedy was hoping to speak. That would have been preferable, but unfortunately he is not in a position to do so right now. I thank those members who have contributed to this debate, including the shadow minister, who spoke some time ago, and the member for Page.

The Customs Tariff Amendment (Incorporation of Proposals) Bill 2009 contains several amendments to the Customs Tariff Act 1995 that were included in three customs tariff proposals that were tabled in the House of Representatives during this year. The successful passage of this bill through the parliament will enable the formal incorporation of the alterations contained in these proposals in the customs tariff.

New item 41H provides duty-free entry for goods for use in testing, quality control, manufacturing evaluation or engineering development of motor vehicles designed or engineered in Australia but not necessarily manufactured in Australia. This new item benefits the automotive manufacturing industry.

Recent legislation passed by the parliament to amend the customs tariff did not include subsequent increases in duty rates for certain alcohol and tobacco products. Customs Tariff Proposal (No. 2) and Customs Tariff Proposal (No. 4) were tabled in the House of Representatives to apply rates of duty to these goods to reflect these increased rates. Without this action, there would have been a loss of government revenue and discrepancies between imported and domestically manufactured alcohol and tobacco products.

I conclude by thanking those who have contributed to the debate. I understand the opposition is supportive of the bill. I commend it to the House.

Question agreed to.

Bill read a second time.