Joanne Ryan (Lalor, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise, like my colleagues here tonight, to speak against the Shipping Legislation Amendment Bill 2015. Labor is the party that stands for workers and jobs. We on this side of the chamber know that and the Australian public know that, despite what we hear in question time about those opposite being the best friends of workers. This piece of legislation is a case in point. I cannot imagine anything that more clearly stamps out the ground where we on this side of the chamber stand and where people on the other side of the chamber stand on jobs for Australian workers.

There is a widely-held view that the coalition's Work Choices legislation was a major contributor to their loss in 2007. We have all heard in this place over the past few months what the member for Grayndler calls this piece of legislation. He calls it 'Work Choices on water'. I think the Australian public agree with the member for Grayndler on this issue in particular. We may have a new Prime Minister but imbedded in the DNA of those opposite is the desire to drive down wages, cut union influence and—the more cynical would say—create a pool of unemployed, underemployed and underpaid to decrease the power of workers when it comes to employment negotiations. Again, this piece of legislation demonstrates that. Former Prime Minister Abbott certainly shared these views. In his book Battlelines, he wrote: 'WorkChoices wasn't all bad.' He has since claimed to have been the best friend of workers, but in this place in 2009 he added that 'workplace reform was one of the greatest achievements of the Howard Government'. He said that in this place. Indeed, he also said:

The Howard government's industrial legislation, it was good for wages, it was good for jobs and it was good for workers. And let's never forget that.

The Australian public has rejected those claims.

Now, with this bill before the House, the current Prime Minister has clearly demonstrated that he is not for turning when it comes to workplace regulations. We know Work choices did none of those things that Mr Abbott claimed. It drove down wages and reduced employment conditions. We had young workers being paid in pizzas, for goodness sake! Who could claim it was good for workers? We had workers being paid a few cents more per hour in exchange for the loss of penalty rates. And now we have this piece of legislation trying to introduce 'Work Choices on water'.

When Labor came into office in 2007, it not only had to untangle the Howard-Abbott era Work Choices legislation but had to find a way to strengthen the shipping industry. This industry was in a steady state of decline. The number of Australian flagged vessels had plunged from 55 in 1996 to just 21 in 2007. Following extensive consultation and a parliamentary inquiry, a range of measures were implemented to support the Australian shipping industry. These measures included tax incentives to encourage ships to be flagged in Australia, incentives to employ Australian seafarers, tax benefits for international trade and a range of skills development initiatives. Now, after two years of uncertainty, this government seeks to overturn these reforms with this bill. These reforms will rip the heart out of Australia's shipping industry.

Recent analysis shows that over 90 per cent of shipping jobs will be under threat by these changes. Why are those opposite so hell-bent on creating these job losses? We have already seen losses in manufacturing and shipbuilding in my electorate of Lalor and in neighbouring electorates in Melbourne—in the electorates of Batman and Gellibrand. We have also seen 457 worker exploitation. We have heard of students working for less than $10 an hour and being in breach of their visas. They are working long, unsociable hours at half pay—in fact, less than half if you look at the penalty rates for unsociable hours. We have rampant casualisation of the workforce in particular industries and we see that on the ground in my electorate. We have found breaches of the labour market provisions under the 457 visa program. We have 100,000 fewer apprentices than we had two years ago across this country. We have a campaign being winked at by this government to do away with penalty rates for some of the lowest paid workers in the country. We have a PM who says penalty rates are for dinosaurs. And what is it about freight movement that riles this government? We know that workers in this country are under attack. This bill demonstrates just how far the government will go not to protect Australian jobs. We have, of course, seen them attacking the Remuneration Tribunal. They have form in this area of trying to drive down wages and conditions of people who move our produce around in this country.

The Australia Institute estimates there will be just 88 Australian-employed seafarer jobs remaining if this legislation is passed. In addition to the loss of jobs, other investments will be affected. SeaRoad, the company that trades between Tasmania and the mainland, is considering the future of its planned purchase of two new cargo vessels. The bank, it seems, is concerned because of the proposed changes and has threatened to withdraw the funding. It is predicted that this route would drop to just 35 per cent Australian-delivered. On the one hand, this government has recently increased the Tasmanian Freight Equalisation Scheme and then, on the other hand, these shipping changes place a different form of pressure on the industry and exporters. It is difficult logic. On one hand, we stand in this chamber and laud ourselves for changes that are supposed to support Tasmania and, on the other hand, we threaten the shipping industry.

Cruise operators—and one in particular—have had a lot of media on this issue because they will be severely affected. We know that the advice to those operators, like Bill Milby, is to re-flag and employ cheaper overseas labour. Our exports of iron ore, petrol and crude oil will be delivered entirely by foreign ships and crews if this legislation is passed. It opens the opportunity for our major produce, including iron ore, and for petrol and crude to be transported entirely by foreign ships and crews around Australia.

I am heartened that recently many crossbench senators have expressed their concerns about this legislation. A recent summit hosted by the ACTU had many senators sharing these concerns. Tasmanian Senator Ms Lambie shows that she understands the particular plight of Tasmania and the impact of this legislation. Wouldn't it be sensible for the members for Bass, Lyons and Braddon to see that as well and to stand in this place and defend Tasmanian shipping? Other senators, like Senator Muir, Senator Madigan, Senator Xenophon and Senator Lazarus, have expressed their concerns. The industry has expressed concern—and was accused of lying when it did so. The workers know their fate is certain if this legislation passes. The workers who have been on email constantly urging us to block this legislation understand that it means that their job will not exist any more.

We know that the previous Prime Minister made much of stopping the boats. Little did we know that this included the current Australian shipping industry. Australia is an island. We rely on shipping. Ninety-nine per cent of our trade relies on shipping. We have a large coastline. Moving goods via ships can be an efficient system. If items are transported across the land in an Australian-registered truck on Australian roads with an Australian driver, Australian rates apply. If the same item is transported via rail with an Australian train driver, Australian rates apply. Why should it be any different along the 'blue highway' around our coast? Where are the savings in this? What are the costs of the lost local spending—the higher welfare costs, the loss of tax revenue and, for some, the health implications following the loss of a job?

You do not want to be in your 50s in Australia today and lose your job. I have had conversations with many in the electorate of Lalor who are now faced with that every day. A lot of them are men and many have said to me that when they first lost their job they thought that they were skilled and that they would just move into another job. At the back of my office, across a laneway, there are a series of job support services, so I often run into people I know coming out of those job support services. Over the weeks and the months their heads are hanging lower and lower. The impact on their mental health, on their families and on their self-esteem is excruciating to watch. These are people who have given their lives, have been productive members of society and have held down good jobs, but with a flick of a pen—and might I say the flick a voice, with the Treasurer daring GMH to take its operations offshore—I now have a string of men in their 50s outside my office weekly attending meetings to be told, 'There are no jobs. You won't get another job. You need to get used to the fact that you aren't going to get another job.' They have written their resumes and they are applying for positions, but their heads are hanging lower and lower. And now we are looking potentially at putting seafarers into those ranks of previously productive members of our society now suffering from mental illness because this government is making decisions that are hurting Australian jobs.

Minister Truss, when questioned about job losses in the shipping industry, described them as 'trivial'. As an island nation we should have a viable shipping industry. Imagine, if for some reason, ships refused to travel here; our economy and indeed our society would come to a screaming halt. There is nothing like standing on your own two feet—something that Australians used to be proud of. We cannot choose to truck or rail something across the oceans—we need our ships and we need a viable, safe, reliable shipping industry. As indicated earlier, Labor is the party that cares for workers and strives for jobs. We care about ensuring a skilled Australian workforce into the future. We do not turn our backs on workers and we do not turn our backs on an industry; we work to ensure not only that people are skilled, but they are being trained and retrained. That is why we will fight to ensure that the seafarers of Australia will be subject to Australian workplace standards and Australian health and safety standards. That is why we will fight to ensure our shipping industry remains strong. That is why, when in government, we undertook necessary reforms—reforms now under threat by this legislation.

We know through the Road Safety Remuneration Tribunal that this government likes to ignore the risks to road safety. Here in this piece of legislation it runs the risk to our shipping industry as well. We rely on shipping for 99 per cent of our trade, including an increasing amount of our petroleum supply. We cannot afford interruptions to this trade occasioned by reliance on foreign shipping. Australia needs a maritime sector that calls Australia home. Shipping in Australian waters should maintain high environmental standards. Another possible outcome of this piece of legislation is that those standards are lowered, because foreign ships will be harder to regulate than Australian ships and because foreign crews will be harder to regulate than Australian crews. We know the standards that Australian shipping and Australian crews bring to their work; we know that they care about this coastline; we know they care about the environment; and we know they would go the extra mile to ensure that goods are delivered safely—safely for the environment as well as safely for workers. We know that screening of foreign crews is harder than screening of Australians crews. The Office of Transport Security acknowledges this aa a higher risk profile that is not factored into the costs of this package.

Our Navy benefits from the skills and support provided by the existence of an Australian merchant fleet. This piece of legislation—this bill—puts all of this at risk. I stand strongly on this side of the chamber to oppose this bill.

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