Weld Australia has welcomed the Federal Government's decision to establish a single, specialist trade remedies body, with responsibility for safeguard inquiries transferring from the Productivity Commission to the Anti-Dumping Commission, which will be renamed the Australian Trade Remedies Commission.
The reform, announced by Trade Minister Don Farrell and Minister for Industry and Innovation Tim Ayres, comes just two weeks after Weld Australia publicly condemned the Productivity Commission's interim finding that safeguard measures on fabricated structural steel are not warranted, despite the Commission's own data showing imports grew 28% over the five-year investigation period.
“This is exactly the reform Australian manufacturers have been waiting for,” said Weld Australia CEO Geoff Crittenden. “For too long, Australia's trade remedies system has been fragmented, slow and stacked against the very businesses it is supposed to protect. A single, specialist Commission, with deep expertise in dumping, subsidies and safeguards, is a practical, sensible step towards a system that actually works for Australian industry.”
“Two weeks ago, the Productivity Commission looked at an industry under siege and told it to wait. This week, the Government has acknowledged what fabricators have known all along: the system needs fixing. When the umpire keeps missing the fouls, you don't tell the players to toughen up. You get a better umpire.”
Weld Australia has consistently argued that the Productivity Commission—whose core mandate is economic efficiency—was never the right body to assess urgent claims of trade injury. The organisation's response to the interim report, available here, warned that by the time an import surge is 'recent, sudden, sharp and significant' enough to satisfy WTO lawyers, there will be no industry left to safeguard.
“The Australian Trade Remedies Commission conducts rigorous investigations into dumped and subsidised imports every day. It understands how trade injury actually unfolds, not in tidy aggregate statistics, but in lost tenders, idle workshops, cancelled investment and skilled people walking out the door,” Crittenden said. “That is the expertise safeguard inquiries have been missing.”
“Minister Farrell and Minister Ayres have delivered a stronger system. Now that system must deliver for the welders, fabricators and manufacturers who build this country.”
Weld Australia said the reform must be matched by stronger enforcement of Australian Standards at the border and in procurement.
“Trade remedies deal with unfair prices. But price is only half the problem,” Crittenden said. “Imported fabricated steel must also be held to the same standards as Australian-made product. That is why we are progressing the Australian Fabrication Authority: an independent body to certify, audit and inspect fabricated steel before it is erected. A specialist trade umpire and independent compliance verification, working together, would finally give Australian fabricators the level playing field they have been denied for decades.”
“Australian welders and fabricators are not asking for special treatment. They're simply asking for a fair go. With the Australian Trade Remedies Commission, they are one important step closer to getting it,” Crittenden said.
About us:
Weld Australia represents the welding profession in Australia. Its members are made up of individual welding professionals and companies of all sizes. Weld Australia members are involved almost every facet of Australian industry and make a significant contribution to the nation’s economy. The primary goal of Weld Australia is to ensure that the Australian welding industry remains locally and globally competitive, both now and into the future. Weld Australia is the Australian representative member of the International Institute of Welding (IIW). For more information or to join Weld Australia, please visit: https://weldaustralia.com.au/
Contact details:
Sally Wood on 0434 442 687 or [email protected]