THE Australian Border Force (ABF) is developing solutions to make cross border trade simpler and paperless for Australian businesses, in line with the bilateral Australia-Singapore Digital Economy Agreement.

A trial was launched on November 23 with Singapore Customs and Singapore Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) to test digital verification systems. These systems are the first to be developed using blockchain technology by experts from Australia and Singapore at the United Nations Centre for Trade Facilitation and Electronic Business (UN/CEFACT) for inter-government document exchange.

ABF commissioner Michael Outram said the ABF looked forward to close collaboration with international partner agencies on mutual border modernisation programs. 

“The ABF welcomes the opportunity to collaborate further with Singapore to improve cross-border trade between our countries," he said. "In addition to our efforts internationally, this initiative will incorporate paperless trading and secure, digital exchange of trade information as part of the future architecture and design of an Australian Trade Single Window”.

The trial will test digital verification platforms across both the ABF-developed Intergovernmental Ledger (IGL) and IMDA’s TradeTrust for electronic trade documents. Businesses and regulators will give feedback on their experience verifying Certificates of Origin with the two systems – with the aim of reducing administration costs and increasing trade efficiency.

The Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Australian Industry Group, as well as financial institutions in Singapore, including ANZ, will take part in the trial.

The trial supports the Australian Government’s recently announced Simplified Trade Agenda, which will reform and digitise trade compliance processes. The Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment is also collaborating on complimentary digital initiatives with Singapore regulators to progress paperless trading for phytosanitary and sanitary certificates for food and agricultural trade.

The ABF will feed lessons learned from the trial into the Supply Chain Working Group’s Discovery Report under the National Blockchain Roadmap led by Department of Industry, Science, Energy and Resources.

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THE RESOURCES industry has played a critical role in keeping Queenslanders working and earning through COVID-19 and is central to the state’s economic recovery, according to the Queensland Resources Council’s (QRC) latest State of the Sector report.

QRC chief executive Ian Macfarlane said results from its quarterly report -- which gathered feedback from business leaders in mining, energy, minerals processing, contracting, exploration, electricity generation and oil and gas extraction between July and August this year -- proved resources had been a “life raft” for the state in terms of jobs and exports.

“More than 80 percent -- or $63 billion -- of Queensland’s exports over the past 12 months came directly from our resources sector, which is $12,000 of export sales for every man, woman and child in Queensland,” Mr Macfarlane said. 

“This is a result more than 370,000 Queensland resource sector workers can be very proud of, and we hope Queenslanders are proud of too.

“I’ll be in Townsville today and Mackay and Rockhampton this week to promote the importance of the resources sector to Queensland’s economic recovery and stability post-COVID, because it’s not something that should be taken for granted by government or the community,” he said.

“Just like any industry, resources is impacted by fluctuating commodity prices, economic conditions, changes in government regulations and shifts in community expectations, so we need to keep communicating what our industry has to offer so people can understand what a powerhouse it is for our state.

“Make no mistake, without the resources industry continuing to perform, produce and employ, Queensland is in a precarious economic position.”

Mr Macfarlane said the State of the Sector report found burdensome State Government red tape was a major headwind facing the sector.

“There are projects that have been waiting more than a decade for approval, which is frankly ridiculous and a job killer,” Mr Macfarlane said.

“The resources industry needs a more streamlined assessment process for new projects and expansion of existing projects, coupled with a streamlined, best practice regulatory framework to operate within. Business as usual post-COVID is not going to cut it."

Mr Macfarlane said despite resources being recognised as an essential activity by all levels of government, the State of the Sector survey found companies have become increasingly concerned about State Government uncertainty and regulation, with confidence falling a concerning seven points compared to the previous quarter.

“If the resources sector is to keep earning and employing, we cannot have unreasonable barriers to new investment and jobs put in place by the State Government with little or no consultation or warning,” Mr Macfarlane said.

“Constant increases in taxes and charges, and changes to rules and regulations, frighten away potential long-term investors in our sector and must stop.

“The more projects we can bring to production, the more jobs and more dollars there will be for Queenslanders and for Queensland.

“To make this happen we need regulatory stability and certainty in Queensland, starting with a 10-year hold on royalties and charges to give ourselves a fighting chance of making it out the other side of COVID.”

www.qrc.org.au

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THE $211 million commitment from the Federal Government to fund increased domestic fuel storage and support Australian oil refineries is a welcome step to improving fuel security, according to the Maritime Union of Australia (MUA), but the plan still fails to resolve issues facing the transport of liquid fuels to Australia and around the coast.

The plan seeks to deliver an additional 780megalitres of onshore diesel storage, along with minimum stockholding obligation for key transport fuels, however the policy will still see Australia fall well short of the International Energy Agency’s 90-day fuel stockholding obligation.

The MUA said the announcement also failed to address the nation’s complete reliance on foreign owned, operated and crewed tankers to transport oil and petroleum products to Australia and around the coast.

The union said the situation had greatly deteriorated in recent decades, with more than 90 percent of Australia’s liquid fuel needs now arriving via foreign owned and operated tankers. While 12 Australian-crewed tankers operated in the year 2000, there are no longer any in service.

MUA national secretary and International Transport Workers’ Federation president Paddy Crumlin urged the Federal Government to address the nation’s complete reliance on foreign owned, operated and crewed tankers as part of efforts to address Australia’s chronic fuel security issues.

“The Morrison Government’s initial steps to enhance domestic fuel refining and storage capacity are a good start, but genuine energy security requires action on how fuel is transported to Australia and around the coast,” Mr Crumlin said. 

“The COVID-19 heath crisis has highlighted the vulnerability of Australia’s supply chains and demonstrated how quickly a pandemic, military conflict, natural disaster, or economic shock could impact the supply of essential goods.

“Clear gaps in Australia’s sovereign self-sufficiency have been exposed, placing a clear obligation on the Federal Government to close these gaps and reinforce the cabotage system that governs shipping around our coast, along with biosecurity, immigration, and related border controls.

“The COVID-19 crisis reinforced how absolutely essential shipping is, not only to fuel security but also to maintaining other domestic supply chains that provide essential deliveries," Mr Crumlin said.

“Australia’s complete reliance on foreign owned and operated tankers has left the nation extremely vulnerable, with no guarantee these vessels would continue to supply Australia during a major crisis.

“While recent shortages of household items were inconvenient, a crisis that cut fuel supplies would force the entire economy to grind to a halt.”

The MUA met with Energy Minister Angus Taylor in July to outline this weakness in Australia’s fuel security.

“The Federal Government clearly understands that improving fuel security requires the strengthening of domestic refining capacity and a substantial increase to domestic storage, but the issue of how fuel products are transported to our island nation remains unresolved,” Mr Crumlin said. 

“If the Federal Government is serious about examining industry solutions to address Australia’s fuel security, then it needs to look at the creation of a strategic fleet of Australian owned, flagged, or crewed tankers capable of maintaining supplies of oil and refined petroleum products in the event of a crisis.

“In a report commissioned by the MUA, shipping expert John Francis found the exclusive reliance on foreign flagged tankers for crude and refined petroleum products removed any opportunity for the Commonwealth to requisition national flag tankers if needed to maintain fuel supplies during a crisis," Mr Crumlin said.

“His report, Australia’s Fuel Security – Running on Empty, concluded that the retention of a minimum number of Australian owned, managed and crewed tankers was not only justified on national security grounds, but could be achieved at a minimal cost to end users.”

Australia’s Fuel Security – Running on Empty report is available at: https://bit.ly/31cDisq

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INTERNATIONAL TRADE in Queensland’s resources has stayed consistent with an 80 percent contribution to the total value of the state’s exports of $82.1 billion in the 12 months to March 2020, according to the latest Australian Bureau of Statistics data.

Queensland Resources Council chief executive Ian Macfarlane said the latest ABS data was another solid result from the sector as the economic impacts of COVID-19 unfolded. 

“While it’s good to see the resources sector contributing more than three quarters or $65 billion to Queensland’s exports, the months ahead could be challenging as we see contractions in the world economy,” Mr Macfarlane said.

“China is Queensland’s largest market with $28 billion in exports over the last 12 months while coal remains our most important export commodity with $34 billion in international sales.

“While these numbers are encouraging especially for jobs here in Queensland, the industry will be closely monitoring any movement in demand from our international trading partners." 

Queensland Treasury data: www.qgso.qld.gov.au/issues/3526/exports-qld-goods-overseas-202003.pdf

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