Division
Richard Colbeck I rise to make my contribution on the Customs Amendment (Anti-dumping Measures) Bill 2013. This is the fifth instalment of antidumping legislation this government has presented. It has taken a while to get there, but we continue to go through the process. This piece of legislation does a couple of things. Firstly, it removes the minister's mandatory obligation to consider the so-called lesser duty rule. It also provides closer alignment of retrospective duties provisions within the relevant WTO agreements and introduces new anticircumvention provisions that widen the range of options available to government, including to address the practice of sales at a loss and attempts by foreign producers to evade the full payment of duties. We have seen in recent weeks the concerns that industry players have expressed in relation to their competitiveness—particularly in the Shepparton district of Victoria, where SPC Ardmona has requested emergency assistance and consideration of emergency duties under the WTO provisions. I think that particular action by SPC Ardmona—their concern about their competitiveness and their concern that there may be countries who are dumping product into Australia—demonstrates the importance to this country of having effective antidumping measures. Although I do accept that the government has made a number of changes—as I said, this is the fifth in a series of changes this government has made over the last couple of years—concerns exist in the broader community that the current regime remains expensive to access. The opposition has for a considerable period of time had an antidumping policy on the table. As with previous incarnations of changes made by the government, they go some way towards meeting the policy we have put in place. So we welcome them and we support this piece of legislation and the measures within it. I do not need to go into the details of the opposition's antidumping proposals. But I, along with a couple of others,
Senate, 2013-06-25. negative: ayes 11, noes 35.
Question
Richard Colbeck I rise to make my contribution on the Customs Amendment (Anti-dumping Measures) Bill 2013. This is the fifth instalment of antidumping legislation this government has presented. It has taken a while to get there, but we continue to go through the process. This piece of legislation does a couple of things. Firstly, it removes the minister's mandatory obligation to consider the so-called lesser duty rule. It also provides closer alignment of retrospective duties provisions within the relevant WTO agreements and introduces new anticircumvention provisions that widen the range of options available to government, including to address the practice of sales at a loss and attempts by foreign producers to evade the full payment of duties. We have seen in recent weeks the concerns that industry players have expressed in relation to their competitiveness—particularly in the Shepparton district of Victoria, where SPC Ardmona has requested emergency assistance and consideration of emergency duties under the WTO provisions. I think that particular action by SPC Ardmona—their concern about their competitiveness and their concern that there may be countries who are dumping product into Australia—demonstrates the importance to this country of having effective antidumping measures. Although I do accept that the government has made a number of changes—as I said, this is the fifth in a series of changes this government has made over the last couple of years—concerns exist in the broader community that the current regime remains expensive to access. The opposition has for a considerable period of time had an antidumping policy on the table. As with previous incarnations of changes made by the government, they go some way towards meeting the policy we have put in place. So we welcome them and we support this piece of legislation and the measures within it. I do not need to go into the details of the opposition's antidumping proposals. But I, along with a couple of others,
How each member voted
Per-member votes are not present in this static export. Consult the original division record.
Related bills
- Customs Tariff (Anti-Dumping) Amendment Bill 2013
- Customs Amendment (Anti-dumping Measures) Bill 2013
Only formal divisions leave a per-member record. A procedural vote is not necessarily a vote for or against a bill.