Customs Amendment (Safeguard Inquiries) Bill 2026
Ms CLUTTERHAM (Sturt) (10:44): I rise today to speak in support of the Customs Amendment (Safeguard Inquiries) 2026. At its heart, this bill is about protecting free and fair trade. It recognises that Australia is a trading nation, supportive of rules based trade and focused on the jobs, growth and opportunity from participating in a free, fair and sustainable international market.
Free and open trade drives vibrant competition, innovation and economies of scale, allowing individuals and businesses to take advantage of lower prices and increased choice. Free trade is about rejecting favouritism and expanding economic opportunity for all, because it creates new, higher paying jobs for Australians as well as for Australia's trading partners.
Attempting to restrict trade in order to protect existing jobs makes no more sense than attempting to ban the use of new technology. This government will always back Australian manufacturing to make sure it isn't compromised by unfair trade. In this country, the benefits of trade are also shared with the community through the ongoing participation of women and First Nations Australians.
First Nations Australians have engaged in trade for thousands and thousands of years, and they continue to share in the benefits of trade today, including through inclusive trade provisions in agreements with our trading partners. Foreign investment through trade and Australia's openness to foreign investment have helped to build Australia, create jobs and raise living standards through the introduction of new technology and by fostering competition.
Foreign investment provides access to the additional capital we need and supports higher levels of investment by pooling risk and return across domestic and foreign investors. Foreign investment has also played an important role in the development of our agriculture, resources, energy, infrastructure and financial sectors, and it's also critical in driving forward our transition to net zero.
This speaks directly to a future made in Australia, which is directed at both maximising the economic and industrial benefits of the global net zero transformation and securing Australia's place in an ever-changing and complex global, economic and strategic landscape. Scaling up Australia's clean energy industries will assist in strengthening global clean energy supply chains and will underpin our ongoing role as a reliable energy supplier.
Australia will continue to work with our international partners to build new clean energy industries and in particular to ensure regional energy security and advance practical action on climate change and climate resilience, as we clearly demonstrated at the recent Pacific Islands Forum. A future made in Australia and international trade are also focused on encouraging and facilitating the private sector investment needed to harness these opportunities.
The private sector is the engine room of our economy, and it supports the inclusive and sustainable productivity growth that is at the heart of the national agenda. It operates by promoting economic growth and opening up new trade opportunities through investments, knowledge transfer and innovation. Without the private sector, new markets are not created; competition is not fostered; and investments in critical national projects, perhaps through private equity or venture capital, are not made.
This all means direct employment; the provision of finance to many industrial sectors and geographic regions; acting to boost living standards and improve the availability and quality of goods and services such as housing, infrastructure, health and education—often through public-private partnerships that allow for risk sharing, so governments and the Australian taxpayer do not have to shoulder all of the financial and operational risks.
Equally, with its capacity to invest, innovate and commercialise, the private sector also contributes environmentally friendly technologies, which are valuable in the face of climate change and the transition to clean, renewable energy, helping many positive impacts in many critical development goals such as food security, health and water. The role of the Australian private sector in free and fair international trade cannot be underestimated.
It cannot be restricted or limited. It must be an active partner with government. Government has a critical role to play here, because government invests in essential services.
It builds infrastructure and supports education, research and skills development. Government provides the strategic leadership that helps Australia prepare for the future at the same time as recognising that innovation, entrepreneurship and investment are often driven by businesses in the private sector that are willing to take risks, develop new technologies and create new industries.
All of this works together in the international trade context. This bill represents an important step forward in creating fit-for-purpose national trade architecture for a complex world that is continually experiencing shocks. It does this by vesting responsibility for undertaking safeguard inquiries with the Australian Trade Remedies Commission, currently known as the Anti-Dumping Commission.
This will streamline Australia's trade remedies architecture. The transfer is an important step in modernising Australia's trade remedy system, noting that this has not undergone significant reform in more than a decade. So it's incredibly important, and it's a signal of Australia's ongoing commitment to free and fair trade and our response to the current levels of volatility in approaches to international trade.
It's important that we, in response to that volatility, have sought to rely on pre-existing mechanisms to develop solutions to this challenge rather than follow the volatility that has been displayed by other World Trade Organization members. The imposition of the safeguard measures has been a feature of the World Trade Organization's legal structure almost since its inception.
But, here in Australia, safeguard inquiries have actually been relatively uncommon. There have been only four since we entered the 21st century. But, as we have seen across the globe, governments are taking different approaches to trade with the consequence that principles of free and fair trade are under significant pressure.
We have now consistently seen commitments regarding tariffs being dismissed with the stroke of a pen and treaty and fair trade agreement obligations simply disregarded because they don't suit a particular moment. Given the risks posed to the international rules based trade regime, it's imperative that Australia use all of its tools in its toolkit to back local industry to ensure it's not overpowered by the new approaches being prosecuted in the international trading environment.
This bill is a significant development in Australia's approach to safeguard measures. So what are they? They might be temporary quotas, increased tariffs or a combination that are imposed against the imports of a certain product, typically in circumstances where a product is imported in such increased quantities and under such conditions as to cause or threaten serious injury to domestic producers in a particular territory of similar or directly competitive products.
Initially, these measures were designed as an emergency-style trade remedy intended to respond to a surge of imports that would cause or threaten to cause serious injury to a domestic industry producing the same product. But, as we have seen, because prohibitive tariffs are now being imposed by a number of major World Trade Organization member states, safeguard measures may need to have a broader and deeper application.
This bill will transfer responsibility for safeguard inquiries from the Productivity Commission to the Australian Anti-Dumping Commissioner, who would be renamed the Australian trade remedies commissioner. How it works is that the relevant minister can refer a matter to the Australian trade remedies commissioner to commence an inquiry. Importantly, before the commissioner recommends the application of safeguard measures, they must consider whether the application would be in the public interest.
This might include, amongst other things, a consideration of the likely impact of any recommendation to impose or not to impose safeguard measures on the Australian economy, on downstream industries and on consumers. It will also require consideration of the benefits to Australian industry in removing the identified serious injury or threat of serious injury and the economic significance of the industry in Australia that might be affected.
This is an important guardrail on the application of the safeguard measures themselves because it requires consideration of the potential protectionist flavour that may arise through the implication of safeguard measures, noting that protectionism and a protectionist approach are not commensurate with free and fair trade and are also a potentially harmful response to unfair trading practices.
This public interest test is critical in weighing up the consequences of what could amount to significant market intervention. The bill establishes a framework for fair procedures for the parties involved and rigorous approaches in the conduct of safeguard inquiries. The bill ensures that the commissioner conducts these inquiries based on evidence to establish if there has been an unforeseen surge in imports that is causing or threatening to cause serious injury to Australian industry.
Australia has a strong history of free and fair trade. We have free trade agreements with multiple countries around the globe, including New Zealand, the US, Singapore, the United Arab Emirates, Thailand, Chile, Peru, Malaysia, Korea and Japan, just to name a few. Free trade agreements provide Australian exports with a better competitive position.
They open up prospects for increased bilateral investment, and they reduce costs for Australian businesses and consumers. It cannot be disputed that free trade agreements contribute to the greater economic activity and job creation in Australia and that they deliver opportunities for big and small Australian businesses to benefit from that greater trade and investment.
Free trade agreements encourage investment. They help to improve the rules affecting issues such as intellectual property, the digital marketplace and government procurement. They provide significant competitive advantages for Australian businesses and consumers in that improved access to a wider range of competitively priced goods and services, new technologies and innovative practices are made available.
You can also achieve better regional economic integration and the development of shared approaches to trade and investment between Australia and our trading partners that are bilaterally beneficial, not just beneficial to one trading partner. And, in doing this, free trade agreements deliver enhanced trade and investment opportunities that contribute to the economic growth of less developed economies, which is critical for regional stability.
Government-to-government and business-to-business relationships are greatly enhanced through the negotiation process and the implementation process. With all these enormous benefits for Australian businesses, the Australian people and our future economic prosperity and regional security, it would be curious to take an approach that sought to hinder and complicate the implementation of a free trade agreement with, say, the European Union—especially one meticulously negotiated with the interests of all affected Australian industries at the forefront of mind and negotiated meticulously with the long-term sustainability of a fair, free trading relationship with the European Union that benefits Australian industry as a key priority.
The bill represents a significant step forward with respect to protecting Australian industry at the same time as continuing to prosecute free and fair trade. The inclusion of the public interest consideration provides confidence to the community that safeguard inquiries will assess both the benefits to Australian industry and the impacts on a range of stakeholders in the course of formulating a recommendation on their application.
I commend the bill to the House.