Andrew Nikolic (Bass, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I have pleasure in speaking on the Limitation of Liability for Maritime Claims Amendment Bill 2015, which seeks to ensure that international shipping continues to be an economically viable proposition. As an island state, the issue of shipping is of vital importance for Tasmania's future prosperity. Coastal shipping and international shipping are key enablers in ensuring that quality Tasmanian produce and manufactured goods are able to reach domestic and international markets.

We want to ensure that Tasmania optimises the benefits of the trifecta of free trade agreements that were negotiated by the coalition in 2014—that our clean, fresh, quality produce will grace growing Asian markets from India to China. And the indicators are encouraging! Demand for Tasmanian seafood and agricultural products continues to grow. The $60 million in federal funding announced last month will support five new irrigation schemes in Tasmania, providing 95 per cent water certainty, greater agricultural capacity and, most importantly, more local jobs.

The $203 million that was announced by the Prime Minister last Friday, 13 March, to enhance Tasmania's Freight Equalisation Scheme will help equalise the cost of exporting those quality Tasmanian goods to Asian markets. I will have more to say about the enhanced Tasmanian Freight Equalisation Scheme later in my speech, but the point is that international shipping is of great importance to my state. This bill seeks to implement amendments to the 1996 protocol to the Convention on Limitation of Liability for Maritime Claims. The effect of the bill will be to increase the liability limits for shipowners and salvors for maritime claims relating to ship-sourced damage to more adequately reflect the costs of such incidents.

But let me also touch on some of the broader issues relating to international shipping that affect my home state of Tasmania. As I said, the announcement by the Prime Minister last Friday about the Freight Equalisation Scheme has been described by so many people as a 'game changer' for my state. It is something that people have been talking about for a long time but it had not been delivered. I was very proud to be there last Friday in Northern Tasmania with my two colleagues in this House, the member for Braddon, who is in the chamber at the moment, and the member Lyons and our hardworking Senate team for this very welcome announcement.

Under the new Tasmanian Freight Equalisation Scheme from January 2016, the scheme will be extended to goods that are going to markets that are not currently covered by the scheme. Tasmanian businesses selling these goods will be able to claim $700 per shipping container. Of great importance to me is that shippers from King Island and the Furneaux Group of islands will be eligible for a 15 per cent additional loading. Those small island communities do it pretty tough. Everything has to come on and off the island by ship or aircraft, and so the cost of building something or transporting stock from the island to mainland or international markets is an increased cost. So I am really pleased that the Furneaux Group of islands is included and eligible for that 15 per cent additional loading.

The effect of this magnificent enhancement of the Freight Equalisation Scheme is to boost the competitiveness of Tasmanian businesses and provide a substantial incentive for local businesses to sell their products to broader markets. This significant expansion represents an increase of over 40 per cent in the Commonwealth's annual investment in the Tasmanian Freight Equalisation Scheme. We have delivered on our promise of not only retaining the Freight Equalisation Scheme but also making it more effective and more targeted. To improve the efficiency of the scheme, the time frame for making and processing claims will be reduced to six months.

It is important to note that a coalition government introduced the Freight Equalisation Scheme in 1976 and the Howard government introduced the Bass Strait vehicle equalisation scheme in 1996. I was pleased to hear the Prime Minister say that the 'efforts of Andrew Nikolic in Bass, Brett Whiteley in Braddon and Eric Hutchinson in Lyons were central in securing this expansion of the scheme'. There is a golden thread from the Prime Minister's announcement of the economic recovery plan for Tasmania on 15 August 2013, the lobbying that the Tasmanian team has done since then and the delivery last Friday of this wonderful enhancement for Tasmania. That announcement builds on significant funding that the Commonwealth is already providing under the Economic Growth Plan for Tasmania to build productivity-enhancing infrastructure. Another example of that is the $1 billion in Tasmania's infrastructure that includes $400 million for the Midland Highway and $38 million for the Hobart airport runway extension, and an additional $60 million for the Tranche II irrigation projects managed by Tasmanian Irrigation.

Some of the other achievements are worth noting in the context of doing better things for Tasmania and building on that greater equalisation of the costs of shipping from Tasmania to the mainland and international markets. I would like to reflect on other achievements in my electorate of Bass which I think are important for Tasmania's future prosperity. I have already mentioned the freight equalisation scheme.

Other achievements include: $60 million for the irrigation schemes; $34 million for North East Freight Roads; $23 million announced by then Minister Dutton, Minister Ferguson and I in August 2014 to improve access to elective surgery for Tasmanian patients who have been waiting for longer than clinically recommended times; $6 million for the North Bank redevelopment to transform the former industrial precinct on the North Esk River into something that is far more family friendly; $3 million for a healthier Tamar.

Regarding the Tamar, I had the environment minister, Greg Hunt, in Launceston at the end of last year to show him the progress we have made—some 300,000 cubic metres of silt have been removed from that river, and at the end of year 1 we are making great inroads into a healthier Tamar River. I am pleased to say that we have funding for the next two years.

Further achievements include: $3 million in innovation grants that my colleagues from Braddon and Lyons announced on 11 March; $3 million for an integrated timber processing facility at Scottsdale; $2.7 million to establish the Tasmanian Major Projects Approval Agency in my home town of Launceston; $2.5 million for the North Eastern Mountain Bike Trails Development to boost tourism opportunities in our region; $1.25 million for Invermay Park, the most used sporting facility in northern Tasmania; almost $1 million to upgrade the Flinders Island and Cape Barren Island airfields—about $1 million out of a total of $8 million for regional airfield upgrades around the country. I am really pleased that these things we have achieved for Tasmania are building on those freight equalisation and irrigation scheme announcements I mentioned earlier.

When it comes to international shipping, there is still a lot more to be done. In my view, the logical next step is costal shipping reform. I will give you a case study to help explain. Bell Bay Aluminium in my electorate of Bass is sadly one of the few businesses of its size left in northern Tasmania. Its importance cannot be overstated. It uses 25 per cent of Tasmania's total electricity, contributes $700 million to the Tasmanian economy each year, and provides over 1,000 direct or indirect jobs.

The general manager of Bell Bay Aluminium is a pretty capable bloke. His name is Ray Mostogl. He recently won TheCEOMagazine Manufacturing Executive of the Year. Mr Mostogl has been at the forefront of calling for something to be done to fix coastal shipping. He has said publicly that after Labor introduced the Coastal Trading Act in 2012—and I am pleased to see the member for Grayndler in the House, because he was at the forefront of that reform. Mr Mostogl said in his submission to the Productivity Commission that Bell Bay Aluminium faced a 63 per cent increase in freight rates. Let me say that again; it is worth repeating. The coastal shipping changes that the member for Grayndler and the Labor Party brought in in 2012 resulted in an increase of 63 per cent in the shipping costs at Bell Bay Aluminium. Mr Mostogl goes on to say that it has led to 'greatly reduced shipping options and competition'. Critically, he identifies sea freight as 'one of the key means to keep the Bell Bay Aluminium smelter viable'.

Mr Mostogl draws a clear link between Labor's legislative gift to the Maritime Union of Australia—the increased costs that followed—and the impact on the very viability of this important company in my electorate of Bass. Mr Mostogl has revealed that leaving ships idle at port for a day—as demanded by the Maritime Union of Australia—before loading can commence, on occasions, costs foreign vessels about $10,000 a day, and Australian ships more than $20,000 a day. He points out that freight rates from Tasmania to Queensland in the first year of the member for Grayndler's Coastal Trading Act rose dramatically from $18.20 per tonne in 2011 to $29.70 a tonne in 2012, while rates elsewhere in the Southern Hemisphere are about half that at $17.50. You do not need to be Einstein to realise that the impact on productivity, as a result of these coastal shipping changes championed by the member for Grayndler, has been devastating for this company and for my home state of Tasmania.

I wonder what the member for Grayndler, who introduced these coastal shipping laws as minister, would say to the 130 workers at Bell Bay Aluminium who lost their jobs during the last two years of the Labor-Green Government—partly because of this sop to the MUA. I am sure he would flick past us to his former coalition partner and Greens Leader Christine Milne. Recently, in the Launceston Examiner, she denigrated Bell Bay Aluminium—and, remember, $700 million to the state economy and 1,000 direct or indirect jobs. She described Bell Bay Aluminium and three other major industrial companies in Tasmania as 'exaggerators wanting a handout'. That is the sort of thing we hear from the leader of the Greens, and I express my disgust at the callous indifference for Tasmanian jobs shown by Greens leader Christine Milne, who is happy to sacrifice these workers on the altar of green ideology. And the member for Grayndler has sacrificed competitive freight rates to support his MUA mates.

As Tasmania's representative on the coalition's deregulation committee, I want to continue removing bad Labor-Green legislation from the productive components of Australia's economy. I want us to roll back the special deals between Labor and their union handlers, which have contributed to reduced productivity and a growing disparity between domestic shipping costs and shipping from overseas.

I know the Member for Grayndler revels in the shrine that has been established for him on the MUA website by MUA Secretary Paddy Crumlin for giving his union a shrine—the coastal shipping reforms they demanded.

Mr Albanese interjecting—

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