Linda Reynolds (WA, Liberal Party, Minister for Defence) Share this | Hansard source

Thank you, Senator Patrick, for your comments about the briefing. I'll answer the first question as yes, and I'll just walk you through the example you've used—oils. In that hypothetical example, if a future revision of the HS tariff code reclassifies olive oils, as in your example, as a new category of goods, distinct from its previous category of food oils, it will be necessary to update Australia's free trade agreement itself to accept and to acknowledge this change of classification. So, the update process would apply to the PSR treatment agreed by both parties for food oils to make it the new category of olive oils, for example, in the updated PSR schedule.

Neither the process of updating the PSRs for olive oils, for example, and food oils nor incorporating this change into domestic law—which is what we're talking about here today—would undermine the original FTA commitment or the treaty-making process itself.