Adam Bandt (Melbourne, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on the Marine Engineers Qualifications Bill 2013. This minority parliament has been very good for the people of Australia. Because of this minority parliament, we have seen $13 billion put into clean and renewable energy, and the tax-free threshold will be lifted to $18,200 for many, many people from the start of next year. The Greens have been able to negotiate that, from 1 January 2014, parents will be able to take the kids to the dentist and use their Medicare card to get free dental treatment. We have also seen a lifting in the standard of protection offered to firefighters around this country. If this building were to catch on fire, I imagine most of us would be running out while the firefighters are running in. There is every chance that, as they run in to fight a fire, they will breathe in toxic smoke and that has been causing them cancer. Because of this minority parliament, we have been able to increase the protections and compensation that is available to those firefighters.

In these remaining few weeks of the parliament, we can do more for the Australian community and lock in some further protections for people right across this country. I have been approached by members of the Maritime Union of Australia, who have said that their long-running campaign for a national stevedoring code of practice to ensure safety on the docks was threatened to be stymied at the last minute, but now may not happen at all as a result of intervention from some large employers. I have written to the transport minister and the workplace relations minister offering to legislate their protection in the remaining weeks of this parliament. I have not yet received a reply.

One thing that is here, that we could do right now, is to enshrine the standards for our marine engineers. We have a good shipping industry in this country. It faces its challenges, in part because successive governments have not understood the importance to our trade or, indeed, our defence—let alone our economy—of having a good Australian owned shipping industry. We have a safe shipping industry. It is safe for the people who work on the ships. It is safe for the people who are out at sea. It is safe for our environment. One of the reasons for that safety is due to the high standards and the level of qualifications and professionalism of our marine and power engineers. Unfortunately, that has had to be defended against attacks. We have seen some of those attacks in recent years with the attempt to reduce the minimum time of study to become a marine engineer from three years to one year. We have been able to stop that. One thing worth noting is that that attempt to reduce the time from three years to one year was, in essence, reneging on an agreement that had been reached with the Australian Institute of Marine and Power Engineers.

During my working life, including in parliament, I have had the privilege of working closely with a range of workers and their unions as well as with a range of organisations that might be described as craft unions. They are often smaller unions, organisations and professional institutes, and they are often non-political and nonpartisan in the sense that they do not necessarily hitch their wagon to a particular star but are prepared to work with those who will advance their interests. When one of those comes knocking on your door and says, 'There is a real concern about safety and we need you to stand up in parliament and fix it,' I for one am very happy to work with them.

There is a continual move to erode protections and minimum standards, and we must be always vigilant. This is not about enshrining anything like a closed shop. If anyone who is a member of another union, or not, wants to come in and work as an engineer, they should be able to; but that should not come at the expense of reducing the minimum standards. The minimum standards should be the minimum standards and whoever meets them can go and get a job.

There are a number of things we are still waiting for from the government. I am still waiting to see when we are going to redress the Allseas decision, which allows people to come and work without the appropriate labour standards applying. I am still waiting for advertising before we offer people work on 457 visas. But this legislation is something we can implement right now. I commend the bill to the House and I congratulate all the members of AIMPE who are here on their advocacy.

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