On 17 February 2013, the Minister for Industry and Innovation released the Australian Government’s Industry and Innovation Statement. This statement included several measures intended to support Australian suppliers increase their participation in large construction projects, such as mines. The measures that have regulatory impacts on business include the requirements that:
- all projects over $500 million in value are to undertake an Australian Industry Participation Plan; and
- all projects over $2 billion applying for a tariff concession through the Enhanced Project By‑law Scheme will be required to embed an Australian Industry Opportunity officer within the company's procurement team.
Currently only projects over $10 million applying for a tariff concession through the Enhanced Project By‑law Scheme are required to undertake an Australian Industry Participation Plan. An Australian Industry Participation Plan outlines how the project intends to engage with Australian suppliers, including the requirement to take Australian industry capabilities and Australian standards into account to try prevent Australian suppliers from being “designed out” of a project. A Regulation Impact Statement was prepared by the Department of Industry, Innovation, Science, Research and Tertiary Education and assessed as adequate by the Office of Best Practice Regulation. For information on the reforms in the Statement relating to the anti-dumping regime please refer to the earlier web post Changes to the anti-dumping regime.
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