Nick Xenophon (SA, Independent) Share this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister representing the Minister for Industry, Senator Ronaldson. In 2011, the then opposition leader, now Prime Minister, announced that the coalition's policy on dumping would in part be to reverse the onus of proof. Currently, Australian businesses seeking to have dumping duties applied have to prove that dumping is occurring. They have to do so at enormous cost, given the unfair evidentiary burden. If the onus of proof was reversed, the exporters bringing goods into Australia would have to prove that dumping was not occurring. I note that an article by David Crowe in the Australian, yesterday, says that the government is considering reversing the onus of proof. Can the minister provide an indication of what that will mean in practice. Does it have the same meaning it did in the coalition's 2011 announcement?