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

In relation to report No. 2, the Productivity Commission Safeguards inquiry into the import of processed tomato products: this is a vexed issue. Dumping is defined briefly under WTO rules as occurring where a product is brought into a country at below the cost of its own domestic market. That is dumping and it is illegal under the WTO rules. I do not think that we have done enough as a nation under successive governments to tackle this issue. We have seen many job losses and industries being destroyed by dumping. There was a partial win in respect of this latest issue in relation to tomatoes and SPC. Some duties were imposed and this was welcomed, obviously, by SPC.

Fundamentally, I believe that we need to impose what would be in effect a reverse onus of proof in respect of dumping. We had a situation where one small company with 22 employees wanted to take on a dumping case and they were told that the legal fees would be $1 million and up in respect of that. Fortunately, there is the Trade Remedies Advisory Service, initiated by the previous government and supported by this government, which is a very good thing and gives some real relief and assistance to those small companies that cannot afford the enormous legal costs involved. If we have a reverse onus of proof, as promised by the coalition prior to the last election, that would go a long way in having some equity in respect of the issue of dumping and we could level the playing field.

In respect of that, the Productivity Commission does valuable work in its overview and its scrutiny of these issues. But I think that the framework must be strengthened so that we actually have a situation where the rules are changed so that the playing field is levelled. There is no other country in the world that takes such a literal and fundamental approach to free trade as Australia does. We are not even taking on our rights pursuant to the WTO. We have squibbed on that over many years and we have destroyed Australian industries and Australian jobs in the process. That is why this report is important.

Question agreed to.