Concetta Fierravanti-Wells (NSW, Liberal Party, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Social Services) Share this | Hansard source

I indicate that we will not be opposing Senator Xenophon's amendment. In relation to this antidumping legislation, Australian manufacturers and primary producers are being injured by unfair competition from foreign companies. The Australian industry can only compete against foreign imports if there is a level playing field, and our antidumping systems deliver just that. Our manufacturers and farmers are competing with foreign goods that are dumped into Australia at prices lower than they are sold in their home markets. Put simply, dumped goods hurt our businesses and our economy, and they cost Australian jobs.

We made election promises to strengthen the antidumping system, and these proposals deliver on those commitments. There is also a range of extra reform measures. The reform measures will place a greater onus on overseas businesses to cooperate with investigations and crack down on companies that do not cooperate with investigations; provide better assistance for Australian businesses throughout the antidumping processes; make improvements to the merits review process to give stakeholders greater certainty around decisions; impose more stringent and rigorous enforcement of deadlines for submissions; and reduce red tape in the system. Specific examples are: establishing the Anti-Dumping Information Service and increasing the numbers of international trade remedies advisers to better support businesses engaging with the system; directing the Anti-Dumping Commissioner to impose provisional duties at day 60 of an investigation where relevant conditions are met; and less tolerance for uncooperative exporters, so if companies do not respond to requests for information the Anti-Dumping Commission will proceed with their investigations on the basis of available information, which could be from the application brought forward by the Australian industry.

Our government has strong and historic support for genuinely free and fair trade and for Australia to operate as an open and dynamic market economy. All of our reforms are consistent with our World Trade Organization obligations. Despite these significant reforms, the government is continuing to engage with stakeholders to determine if more can be done to strengthen our antidumping system and address specific concerns around companies' circumvention of Australian measures, as well as foreign subsidies. Some of this work is currently underway with the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Agriculture and Industry's inquiry into circumvention, due to report soon.