Portfolio — 28 May 2026

Assistant Minister Julian Hill moved the second reading of the Customs Tariff Amendment (Incorporation of Proposals) Bill (No. 1) 2026 in the House, a bill with two distinct and deliberate policy tracks running side by side [TA-260527-house-ef5cc5d1c124:s002]. The first track is domestic and commercial: the bill repeals general duty rates across almost 500 tariff classifications and replaces them with a free rate, building on 2024 amendments to streamline approximately $23 billion of trade and cut compliance costs for Australian businesses by an estimated $157 million per year [TA-260527-house-ef5cc5d1c124:s002].

The second track is geopolitical. The bill extends the temporary additional 35 percent customs duty on goods originating from Russia and Belarus for a further 24 months, explicitly framed as aligning Australia with like-minded countries in response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine [TA-260527-house-ef5cc5d1c124:s002]. Simultaneously, the bill prolongs the temporary free rate for Ukrainian goods — excluding petroleum, fuel, tobacco and alcohol — for another 24 months, positioning the measure as support for Ukraine's continued participation in international trade [TA-260527-house-ef5cc5d1c124:s002].

Minor technical amendments tidy up preferential rates under the Peru-Australia Free Trade Agreement and remove spent phasing rates without touching the underlying operation of the Customs Tariff Act. The deliberate pairing of barrier reduction for domestic industry with sanctions-anchored duties for Russia and Belarus reflects a portfolio approach that treats tariff architecture as a foreign-policy instrument alongside its conventional trade-facilitation function.

No opposition position on the bill is recorded in the available source material for this sitting day.