Brian Mitchell (Lyons, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Australia is a big island, with the sixth-longest coastline in the world. The only way to get here or leave here, or to import or export goods, is via air or sea. There is no bridge or tunnel to other nations. We are, as our national anthem reminds us, girt by sea. We inhabit a region with strong maritime cultures, our closest neighbours being Papua New Guinea, Indonesia, South-East Asia and the island nations of the Pacific.

As a wealthy nation with a vast coastline, surrounded by countries eager to trade, you would think the Australian merchant maritime fleet would be the envy of the world. You would think that a nation that has taken more than 200 years to develop would have itself developed a rich and diverse maritime sector producing the best maritime engineers and shipbuilders, sailors, officers, technicians and navigators, graduating from world-class maritime academies. I'm pleased to say that the AMC in my state does a world-class job. But, as the member for Ballarat notes, people are graduating from the college and unable to get the training they need in Australia to operate on ships. They have to go offshore. It's just incredible that, in Australia, an island nation, graduates of the Australian Maritime College in Tasmania have to go overseas to get the qualifications they need to go into the maritime industry. It is absolutely incredible.

Under this Liberal government, Australia's maritime fleet is a shadow of its former self. There were 13 Australian flagged ships left in Australia at last count, when I did my research; we are now down to 11 ships. There were 100 ships just 30 years ago; we are now down to a tenth of that. The Liberals have absolutely demolished this country's merchant maritime capabilities, and all because of their obsessive hatred of the maritime unions.

Labor is supporting the bill before the House today, the ANL Legislation Repeal Bill 2019, as all it really seeks to do is tidy up some redundant legislation by repealing the entirety of the ANL Act, which applies to an entity that no longer exists. Whilst we support the bill, the member for Ballarat is seeking to attach an amendment to the bill calling the government to account for its absolutely appalling mishandling of Australia's shipping sector.

The legislation before this House today unfortunately does nothing to restore Australia's once proud shipping industry. It does nothing to unwind the damage done to our maritime fleet—a fleet that now barely exists. The extreme right-wing economic conservatives over there on that side may well shrug their shoulders and say, 'Well, why should Australia have a maritime fleet if it's cheaper to import and export goods on foreign vessels using foreign crews?' But that is a narrow and shallow perspective that does not take into account Australia's wider national interest.

Australia's overreliance on foreign vessels and foreign crews now exposes our nation and our people to threats of both national and economic security. We do not allow foreign soldiers to defend our shores simply because they're cheaper. We do not outsource our Royal Australian Navy to the cheapest bidder. We don't expect the Chinese to patrol our waters and then bill us for the service. How then is it acceptable, from a national security point of view, to have all our food, all our fuel and all our goods entering and exiting our nation on foreign vessels? How is it acceptable to those opposite to have foreign vessels with foreign crews plying domestic Australian routes as a matter of course instead of—as it used to be—a matter of exception and only under the strictest rules? If we are to be a secure nation, we must be a self-reliant nation. We need Australian ships and Australian crews on Australian domestic routes, and, ideally, Australian ships with Australian crews bringing fuel to Australia.

An Australian shipping industry is about so much more than just ships and crews. It's about shipbuilding, manufacturing, support services, components, IT, navigation services, education and training. It's about national security and national identity. It's about having assets that can be called upon to assist in times of national emergency, natural disaster and war. Professor Sam Bateman from the Australian National Centre for Ocean Resources and Security at the University of Wollongong, a former member of the Australian Navy, recounted this tale from the late 1990s: 'When Australia was assisting Timor-Leste in the fractious days following independence from Indonesia, the Australian government had to charter 27 cargo vessels to carry Australian troops and stores. All 27 vessels were foreign owned.' What an indictment. It is clear that to those opposite Australia has little hope of reclaiming its place on the high seas.

We need a national conversation about both rebuilding our own maritime sector for the 21st century and taking a global leadership role to ensure the international maritime sector meets minimum health and safety standards and rates of pay for foreign crews. It should be unthinkable in a civilised society such as ours to accept that ships are arriving in Australian harbours that are barely fit to be in service—that are likely to sink at sea and thereby doom the desperate, poorly paid men who crew them. We should be doing more to insist that every vessel that visits this nation meets minimum standards and is crewed by people earning proper rates of pay and living under UN-sanctioned conditions on board. There should be no more sly nods and winks and no more turning a blind eye by the authorities. This is a function that used to be done by unions, but those opposite have so hobbled unions that they are no longer able to carry out these inspections. If that's to remain the case, then it is those opposite who must bear the responsibility for what occurs and they must insist that more Australian Border Force investigators are appointed to carry out this important work.

The unpredictable nature of our region's geopolitics, as well as the instability and risks from beyond our region, shows just how irresponsible it is to rely on foreign ships and foreign crews. By doing so, we are openly exposing our vulnerabilities to the world. Regional disputes, including disputes that are occurring today, could well impact on our shipping and freight paths and even on our ability to utilise foreign ships when we need them. One example of this is, of course, fuel security. I have often been heard in this place talking about how fuel security under this government is at such a low. My voice has joined the chorus of concerned experts calling on this government to do something to ensure that Australia maintains the recommended level—the required level—of fuel reserves. It is required under international treaties that countries have at least the equivalent of 90 days of fuel in reserves. This is established with the International Energy Agency, and it's something most countries strive to comply with. These 90 days effectively act as a security blanket in case something goes wrong and supply is disrupted.

In August, it was widely reported in Australia and elsewhere that the government has been looking to the US for assistance in replenishing Australian stocks. Things are so bad. Articles throughout the year, based on the Department of the Environment and Energy's interim report on the liquid fuel security review, show that we now have less than 30 days of fuel reserves. We have one-third of what is required under international treaty. If this paltry supply of fuel is exhausted, everything is grounded. Everything grinds to a halt, including our defence assets. It is common knowledge that we are dependent upon fuel imported from regions like the Middle East, Africa and parts of Asia—imports brought to our shores by foreign flagged, foreign owned, foreign crewed ships. We are the only import-dependent country in the IEA that is not satisfying our obligations to stockpile fuel to the required standard. Australia is in a vulnerable, high-risk position in which our reliance on other people's ships and crews makes us highly sensitive to disruption.

The fact is that this government, which makes so much of its national security credentials otherwise, simply seems not to care. They seem to have no interest in being proactive and building the contingencies and buffers against increasingly uncertain global energy conditions. One thing they could do is rebuild the Australian domestic shipping fleet. I am unyielding on this. I have spoken about it several times. Tasmanians are at the forefront of this. We have a number of crews who have been sacked from Australian owned vessels. The vessels go offshore and the crews are sacked while overseas. They're given tickets to come home on the plane, and then those ships are returning, sometimes under new owners, with foreign crews being paid as little as $2 an hour and doing the same work that those Australian crews used to do. It's just absolutely unacceptable.

There is no denying that we, as an island country, need a domestic maritime fleet underpinned with a strong legislative and regulatory framework. We need to protect our national interest. Our national interest has to come first. It has to come before the private interests of the shipowners. We need to put our national interest first. By relying on foreign crews on foreign ships, we are exposing ourselves to people and interests who may not share Australia's interest in security. Australian crews have to undergo security and background checks. They have to undergo certain levels of training. There are stringent conduct expectations.

We need to know that, when ships are freighting dangerous or valuable cargo, the cargo is managed, stored and shipped appropriately and securely. It's not good enough to sign a form and say, 'Yes, everything's good,' because, as we all know, the inspections are not being done to the requirements or to what is needed to ensure that these ships and what they transport are managed safely. We need to know who the people crewing these ships are. We need to protect our national interest and ensure that our ongoing ability to operate continues in the wake of disruption. We need Australian crewed, Australian owned ships.

I'll just come very briefly to the Jones Act in the US. The US is hardly, one would think, a socialist state that would have these sorts of things for no reason. The Jones Act requires that vessels operating on US domestic routes must be American owned and American crewed. The US are a highly privatised, highly corporatised nation, yet even they know that it is in their best interests to have American crewed, American owned vessels plying their own routes. If the Americans can do it, why don't we have the same rules here?

It beggars belief. I'm staggered by it. When I think of the national security implications of not having an Australian fleet and, frankly, the political benefit to the government of going out there and saying they're going to rebuild an Australian maritime fleet—with the jobs that would come with it and the national security implications that would flow from it, it's an absolute political goldmine for those opposite to do it—I shake my head.

I alluded earlier to the reports of Tasmanians being woken in the middle of the night and being told that their contracts had ended and they were being replaced by cheaper foreign crews. I want to see these days come to an end. The member for Ballarat rightly mentioned that we are down to about 11 vessels. Australian ships have about 0.5 per cent of Australian trade. We could double Australian trade and still have only one per cent. The state maritime shipping is in saddens me as much as it angers me. We are an island nation surrounded by sea. My state is surrounded by sea. We should have the biggest, richest and best maritime fleet in the world—that we can be proud of. It should be part of our national identity. Yet we have allowed it to wither away. I fully support the member for Ballarat's second reading amendment. This government must be held to account for the way it has absolutely destroyed and demolished Australia's maritime shipping industry.

In the brief seconds I have left I want to mention that Tasmania's Seafarers Memorial Day is on from 11 am on 20 October in Triabunna in my electorate. Unfortunately, I can't be there, because I'll be on a plane coming here. I wish them all the luck for the day.

See this speech in context