Tony Zappia (Makin, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Medicare) Share this | Hansard source

A paramilitary antistrike force with guns and dogs was used to escort hardworking Australian sea crews from their jobs and have them replaced with more compliant workers. There was no consideration for those workers' families and no consideration for their livelihood or for their future. The only concern of the Howard government at the time was the interest of the corporate profits. It was only court action and Justice North's court judgement that scuttled the Howard government's plan.

It was, however, not the end of attempts by coalition governments to get their way and to dismantle the Australian shipping industry, because coalition governments have never given up on their tricky schemes to cut out Australian seamen from Australian shipping. Why have they gone down that course? For two reasons: firstly, to destroy the Maritime Union of Australia and, secondly, to ensure that increased corporate profits flowed to those companies that were using the shipping.

Every piece of legislation that this government introduces with respect to shipping further opens the door to Australian seafarers being replaced by overseas crews. That is not in Australia's economic interest or in the national interest, let alone in the interests of the workers who are already in that industry and the environment of this country.

For example, the International Energy Agency requirement for fuel stock reserves would have countries have a 90-day supply of those reserves. Australia falls short of that 90-day-reserve quota not just by a little but by a lot. According to one analysis, Australia holds 21 days of petrol, 16 days of diesel and 19 days of aviation fuel. That is roughly 20 per cent of the requirement of the International Energy Agency.

That leaves Australia clearly vulnerable to the mercy of overseas shipping operators and foreign entities for our fuel supplies. It is not a good position to be in. It occurs simply because corporate greed is put ahead of national security and local jobs. If there is a conflict with another country and we only have, at best, 21 days of petrol supplies, where does that leave Australia? That's particularly the case given that my understanding is that some 75 per cent or thereabouts of our own crude oil is exported overseas, and most of our petrol is imported from overseas, so we don't have the capacity to refine it here in Australia.

The other concern that I have as to all of this has already been raised by other speakers from this side of parliament. We also have a responsibility to try to protect the Australian coastline and the environmental assets that are there. As other speakers have already made clear, it's Australian seafarers who not only understand the Australian coastline well but also value, and are likely to protect, that coastline—more so than seafarers from other countries on ships that are flagged in other nations.

Of course, the concern with all of this comes down to the missed opportunity that arises, because shipping in itself represents a huge economic opportunity for this country. Quoting the figure of $400 billion each year of exports, one can see the amount of volume that equates to that figure, and, therefore, the amount of economic activity it generates. It would be in the national interest to have as much as possible of that product handled and transported via Australian-flagged ships, where tax to the Australian government would be paid by not only the operators but also the seafarers when they earn their own income. So the income tax generated would have to be massive.

It would be akin to suddenly saying, 'We will wipe out the Australian trucking industry or the Australian airline industry,' if we were to turn our backs on those two industries. Yet we don't, because they operate within our landmass, and we tend to take the view that what's outside of the landmass doesn't really matter. But it does matter, because it's still part of Australian territory. But, regrettably, it is not on this government's radar to look at the opportunities that shipping provides and to support the industry so that it will not go backwards but rather will grow. If we consider that, we now have a situation where it is not only the shipping that has been essentially put into foreign hands; much of the resources that those ships carry are also controlled by foreign entities. And we have now allowed the port of Darwin, for the next 99 years, to be effectively controlled by a foreign entity.

We are clearly going down the wrong track, in terms of not only national security measures but also generating and building the economy of Australia. Shipping represents an opportunity to do that. This legislation, whilst it will be supported by our side of parliament, only makes a minor difference to the shipping regime in this country and does nothing to grow what could be a major economic asset for the future of this country.

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