6 December 2012
Broad support for plan to tackle dumping
The Australian
AUSTRALIA'S only surviving paper manufacturer has welcomed an investigation to stop the dumping of cheap imports.
Australian Office chief executive Jim Henneberry said the package of reforms announced by the federal government was an acknowledgement that the existing approach wasn't working.
"The bottom line is that it doesn't do a damn bit of good if you can't get through the process. The process is so long and onerous and under-resourced that it was completely useless," he said.
The government yesterday pledged to overhaul the way it investigates dumping. It has promised to establish a new commission, double the size of the investigation squad and provide $24.5 million in funding.
The manufacturer of Reflex, the top selling office paper, welcomed the initiative but said that to be effective the commission and the investigators needed to be properly resourced.
"It was a group that was underfunded. It's probably $24 million more than what they had," Mr Henneberry said.
Mr Henneberry was backed up by Rob Sindel, chief executive of building products manufacturer CSR, who said that one of the key concerns of companies facing unfair competition is the difficulty they have in proving a case.
"We see this as necessary to increase the skill level in a more complex world of investigation of imports and it is important to strengthen anti-circumvention as exporters become more sophisticated in avoiding duties," Mr Sindel said.
Chemicals company Nufarm is one of several parties to an action over the alleged dumping of glyphosate, the most widely used weed killer in Australia.
Actions against the growing number of companies using Australia as a clearing house for excess capacity are stalled by a lack of co-operation and the inability to access reliable information.
Steelmakers such as Arrium and BlueScope Steel have been broadly supportive of the government's plan to tackle the problem of dumping.