DOUBT over the future of the parallel import proposal has shaken the car industry as the prime minister confirmed that a re-elected coalition government would introduce the plan.

At the same time, coalition backbenchers and independent senator Nick Xenophon announced their opposition to the plan, saying it would risk jobs and growth.

The Australian Automobile Dealers Association (AADA) acting CEO David Blackhall has compared the pre-election wranglings to comments by Germany’s first chancellor, Otto von Bismarck (1815-1898), who said: “Never believe anything in politics until it has been officially denied”.

Writing in the latest AADA newsletter, Mr Brackhall said: “I was compelled to reflect on the wisdom of his insight listening to the political debates as we enter the final weeks of this election campaign.

“Of particular interest is the confusion that has emerged over exactly what the Liberal National Party position is on parallel imports.”

The Australian newspaper last week quoted Liberal National Party (LNP) backbenchers as saying they would not allow the proposal to get out of the committee stage.

Link to Parallel imports story

On the same day, Mr Blackhall said that “the prime minister said in an interview with Neil Mitchell, on radio 3AW Melbourne, that a re-elected LNP government would introduce the plan.

“The backbench gets it, senator Nick Xenophon gets it – but it seems certain key leaders in the government continue to underestimate or ignore the risks to jobs and growth that this plan represents,” Mr Blackhall said.

He added that he was surprised that some members of the AADA said parallel imports did not represent a serious threat to the retail car industry.

“This view fails to take proper account of three important factors,” he said.

What “important factors” are:

• Well-funded operators stand ready to commercialise the scheme by finding ways to circumvent the rules.
• Once introduced, the scheme could represent the “thin edge of the wedge” via possible expansion to more liberal interpretations of “new” (implying a move to the second-hand import market) or even into the flawed New Zealand model.
• Certain politicians have denied that “definition creep” will ever happen (see von Bismarck quote)

“Clearly the issue hangs in the balance – so we cannot relax,” Mr Blackhall said.

By Neil Dowling