Melissa Parke (Fremantle, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Health) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to oppose the Shipping Legislation Amendment Bill 2015, in keeping with my approach to this issue on several occasions over a number of years. As the representative of Western Australia's principal general cargo port, as the representative of an electorate that is home to the shipbuilding capacity and innovation of the Australian Marine Complex and as the representative of a community that is also home to the largest branch of the Maritime Union of Australia, I have consistently supported measures designed to strengthen and protect Australian shipping and I have argued against changes that seek to weaken the Australian coastal shipping sector.

In this debate it is imperative to remember the wide-ranging and acute importance of shipping to our country. At a time when many Australians are fortunate to experience international travel by air, we cannot afford to ignore the fact that 99 per cent of our trade is moved by sea, that we bear the fifth-largest shipping task of any nation and that fully 10 per cent of all global trade by weight is carried to or from Australia by ship. That magnitude of shipping work is the responsibility and predicament of an island nation like ours and it does bring opportunities as well as challenges—for example, in the ability to move both export and import freight by rail and then by sea, or vice versa, to a greater extent than by truck alone. Indeed, we are yet to take full advantage of that opportunity, with all the benefits that such an approach promises in terms of reduced carbon emissions and community impact.

But, as an island nation reliant on maritime trade routes and on the ships that ply them, we also face challenges. We also need to consider the fragilities inherent in our circumstances. The security and certainty of sea freight are essential to Australia's economic wellbeing. More than that, they are essential to our safe and functional existence. We are a nation with a degree of self-sufficiency in a crisis context, but there are some key areas—including the supply of petroleum—in which we are hugely dependent on sea freight. Our defence capacity is also reliant, in times of conflict or in peacekeeping engagements, on the support of the merchant marine. In those situations, Australian flagged ships—owned and operated in Australia, crewed by Australians—assume an even greater value. Other nations, including our No. 1 security partner, the United States, recognise this in their regulatory approach to domestic shipping. Why would Australia, with greater reliance on sea freight and a vastly smaller defence capacity, take a different path?

The enormously significant Australian shipping task is undertaken in this country by some 10,000 workers. It is an industry, a trade, a tradition, that goes back to our origins as a nation. It trains and employs people to the highest standards and, in so doing, helps raise the standards that apply in other parts of the world. I want to take this opportunity to acknowledge the work the Maritime Union does, through the International Labour Organization's Maritime Labour Convention, in active pursuit of safe and fairly paid work for all seafarers—a group of workers who throughout history have tended to be subject to some of the worst forms of workplace tyranny, hardship and harm. It would be a mistake for anyone to think that such practices are gone from the seven seas.

The changes before us put Australian shipping jobs on the block. This bill pursues so-called efficiencies and cost savings only insofar as they can be achieved by throwing Australian jobs to the wind. As I have noted before, the bill's own cost-benefit ratio analysis indicates that 93 per cent—or 1,089—of coastal shipping jobs will be lost through these changes, with only 200 jobs created in other industries. We do not need to wait and see how this might pan out if the legislation is passed, because we already have the clear example of the advice provided by senior federal government officials in the department of infrastructure to North Star Cruises Australia. In that instance, a successful Australian-based shipping company that has grown from three to 50-odd employees over a number of years was encouraged to consider replacing its Australian workforce with foreign workers. If the government's shipping regulation vandalism goes ahead, then North Star Cruises Australia, which has a presence in Fremantle, and operates luxury adventure cruises on its yacht, True North, in the Kimberley region of Western Australia, will face competition from foreign operators paying far lower wages, in Australian waters, throughout the 180-day tourist season. Under the proposed legislation, it is only after 183 days operating in Australian waters that foreign flagged vessels will be required to pay employees Australian award wages.

It is instructive to note this key passage from The Australia Institute's submission to the Senate inquiry, which states:

Foreign flagged and crewed ships already have considerable access to the Australian coastal shipping market, making Australian coastal shipping possibly the only service sector facing competition that can use foreign labour while actually operating in Australia. By contrast it is impossible for foreign trucking companies, rail companies or any other service provider to operate in Australia using international labour paid at international rates. As crewing costs make up between 36 per cent and 42 per cent of ship operating costs, this puts Australian crews at a 15-20 per cent disadvantage against international ships in terms of operating costs.

If we want to look down the telescope to see where this bill will take us, let us remember that under the Howard government we saw the devastation of the Australian flagged coastal shipping fleet, from 55 vessels in 1996 to a mere 21 vessels in 2007. The Labor government worked hard to repair that damage as part of its comprehensive review and reform process. As others have noted, the unstinting work of the member for Grayndler helped to create a foundation for a revitalised coastal shipping sector, with proper support and incentives for Australian flagged vessels employing Australian seafarers and a package of measures focused on maritime skills and training.

The health of an Australian coastal shipping industry, the existence of Australian flagged vessels, and the maintenance of Australian shipping jobs for high-skilled, well-trained and properly paid and protected Australian workers is paramount for a secure and sustainable Australian future. And so it is irresponsible and reckless for this coalition government to weaken our coastal and Australian flagged shipping capacity, and thereby create economic, environmental and security risks that no responsible government would contemplate.

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