Labors Sharon Bird and Stephen Jones today welcomed Bill Shortens announcement that Labor will toughen anti-dumping protections to protect our steel industry, manufacturing jobs and agricultural jobs.

Labors announcement contains three key elements:

• Labor will triple penalties for circumventing trade remedies;
• Labor will better resource the Anti-Dumping Commission;
• Labor will create a one-stop shop under a tougher regime to safeguard our steel, manufacturing and agricultural jobs now and into the future.

Sharon Bird said that the Illawarra had been through so much uncertainty and the speculation regarding the Trump tariffs this week had many local people worried about our local industry.

There is also now a real risk of other countries using Australia as a dumping ground for steel that would normally have been exported to the United States.

Our local manufacturers and workers representatives have also expressed their concern about soaring energy costs. We need to do everything we can to protect our local jobs in steel and manufacturing

While the Liberals have been asleep at the wheel, Bill Shorten and Labor have put forward a strong plan to help protect our local jobs in steel and manufacturing.

Stephen Jones said new US tariffs would have a cascading effect on local jobs.

Not only will blanket US tariffs put the 400,000 tonnes which BlueScope Port Kembla exports to the US at risk, it will also undermine Australias domestic market through dumping.

It is vital that Australia meet this continued global uncertainty with best-practice anti-dumping measures.

Labor has always supported our local steel and manufacturing sectors and this is a plan which puts Australian jobs first.

By putting all of our trade remedies under one roof, Australian industry will be afforded the same support as our global trade competitors.

Labor will not let Australia become a dumping ground for cheap foreign goods sent here by trade cheats.

More information about Labors tougher anti-dumping plan can be found here.