TRADE LAW: Gazing into the crystal ball

TRADITIONALLY, the Federal Government releases its federal budget for the forthcoming financial year in May each year. It is a “whole of Government” document which includes a “report card” on some past activities, comments on the state of the world and Australian economies and anticipated future revenues, expenditures and activities for the next financial year.

Aspects of economic and political policy contained in a budget are regularly and widely released before the “budget session” of Parliament to “soften the political and electoral ground” for the content of those aspects. Even so, there are often elements which can be considered as part of a wider “crystal ball” as so many aspects of our national economy are affected by developments beyond our control.

The budget for 2026/2027

The Federal 1 July 2026 to 30 June 2027 was presented to the Federal Parliament on 12 May 2026. That does not mean that the Budget was passed or enabled – it was merely released following development considering economic, electoral and political considerations. There will now be much public debate and negotiation to secure approval of legislation implementing the budget whether it reflects the form as initially promised or as negotiated to secure political approval and perceived political outcomes.

Trade highlights from the budget

While it is a “whole of government” document and while the focus was on issues such a general economic management, raising productivity and reducing the cost of living, there were some budget issues touching on various aspects of trade. Those highlights are below and taken from the Media Release of 12 May 2026 of the Treasurer.

Reducing red tape

• Reducing regulatory burdens in the financial sector by $780 million a year by progressing 14 legislative reforms, including by increasing the monetary thresholds for large proprietary companies, improving the efficiency of climate‑related financial disclosures, further modernising business communications by making electronic recordkeeping and communication with ASIC easier and increasing the cap on banks’ covered bond issuance.
• Reducing duplicative, inconsistent or opaque data requests through 13 actions by financial regulators, while delivering more than 50 commitments in the Better Regulation Roadmap, reducing annual costs by $181 million per year.
• Saving small businesses 376,000 hours on their tax returns by making the $20,000 instant asset write‑off permanent and moving towards dynamic monthly tax instalments.
• Working with the states and territories to harmonise payroll tax administrative arrangements.

Removing barriers to trade

• Abolishing another 497 nuisance tariffs, bringing the total tariffs removed to around 1,000 and saving businesses $157 million per year in compliance costs. We are also consulting on abolishing another set of tariffs to further cut costs for Australian businesses, strengthen competitiveness and enhance productivity.

• Reducing red tape for export and import businesses with faster access to markets through a $7.6 million investment in expanding Australian Trusted Trader.

• Streamlining biosecurity border processes to help get fertiliser to farmers faster.

Building a single national market

• Making it easier to run a business across states and territories by harmonising state retail tenancy frameworks.

• Making more standards consistent across states and territories, with key agricultural and veterinary chemical products added alongside existing work on household electrical consumer products, waste and recycling, building and construction and food standards.

• Accelerating and expanding heavy vehicle reforms to reduce fuel costs, increase transport productivity and support the uptake of heavy zero emissions vehicles.

Making it easier to engage with government

• Providing a further $654 million to expand the availability of Digital ID as a simple and secure way for Australians to verify their identity and reduce the sharing and storage of personal data by businesses, government and individuals.

• Improving the Consumer Data Right to make the storage and sharing of personal information easier and safer.

• Adopting a ‘tell us once’ approach so Australians spend less time providing the same information across different areas of government.

• Making it easier for businesses to engage with regulators through further investments in ASIC’s business registries, including linking Director IDs held by 3 million directors to ASIC’s Companies Register. 

We are looking as to how these proposals affect those in trade once they are reduced to legislation. There is not a lot in here for our industry, but it does generally fit into “facilitating” international trade both through the supply chain and at the border.

Proposed amendments to dumping and countervailing legislation

Away from the lights, cameras and action of the budget, there is the promise of amendments to our dumping and countervailing regime through the Regulatory Reform Omnibus Bill 2026, which has now been introduced into Parliament. The amendments are seen as some of the results of discussions between Government (the Department of Industry, Science and Research and other agencies such as the Australian Border Force) and representatives of the private sector including the International and Customs Brokers Association of Australia (IFCBAA) and the Food and Beverage Importers through the International Trade Remedies Forum (ITRF).

As set out in an email from the Anti – Dumping Commission (ADC) released just after the budget:

The fact of the developments being introduced is to be applauded. Some developments may not make the final “cut” in their current form and some may be further amended following negotiations at the ITRF reflecting the position of its member organisations. There are still more amendments which have been endorsed in principle but require administrative as opposed to legislative change. A prime example would be the perennial request that government agencies provide a system by which a party can secure a “dumping advice” or similar confirming whether dumping or countervailing duty will apply to goods to be imported. A reasonable request and endorsed by government, agencies and the private sector for approximately 8 years. Vital when most imports are undertaken on a self – assessment basis and liability to underpaid duties expands to many in the supply chain as well as liability to penalties or prosecution for misstatements of liabilities to such duties. However, despite successive promises of implementation of such an initiative, there is still no evidence that such a vital administrative system will be adopted, or by when.

But wait - there’s more – the IFCBAA CPD Forums

It’s that time of the year again. After 6 very successful webinars before the IFCBAA National Conference in Hobart (at which I was involved in several sessions) we now move into the IFCBAA CPD Forums sessions around Australia from the middle of July until early September.

As always, looking forward to seeing colleagues from government agencies and from the private sector (including IFCBAA members) to discuss legal issues including:

• Our FTA agenda.
• Moves against importation of imitation and/or toy firearms.
• Proposed legislation to impose Infringement Notices on importers in breach of Trademark legislation.
• Competition issues in the supply chain including stevedores.
• The likely introduction of anti – modern slavery in the supply chain.
• The position on new US tariffs including those on exports from countries the US believes do not meet standards to stop exports to the US of goods the product of anti – slavery legislation (including Australia).

This article appeared in the June | July 2026 edition of DCN Magazine