Christopher Back (WA, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

Madam Acting Deputy President, let me state the facts as they are, because I have knowledge and background in this industry, and inform those on the other side of how dangerous the move is that they are proposing. The simple fact of the matter is that my associates internationally—and these people have enormous experience in the industry and have been working offshore Western Australia—have said to me only in recent weeks that they will never, ever bring their vessels, their crews or their expertise back into Australian waters again. This is the effect of the Migration Amendment (Offshore Resources Activity) Bill.

There never was a problem with 457 workers. In this case, Minister O'Connor went looking for one. He found spurious figures not as a result of those submitted to him by his own department or others; it was a group of figures put to him by a union who are trying to dominate an area over which they do not have the control they want at the moment and, more importantly, an area in which they do not have the expertise. The great value in bringing these workers into our waters is that the skill sets of those in Australia can be elevated. Should this legislation pass, they will be denied that skills development opportunity which, at the moment, they are enjoying. But more importantly—and I say it again; and I cannot say it any more bluntly than this—I was told in my home, in Perth, not three weeks ago by a person who is regarded in the world as the leader in the field and who brought crews into Australian waters that, firstly, the project ran over because of interruptions and interferences locally and, secondly, the expertise did not exist here; the expertise came from overseas.

What people must understand in the context of what we are speaking about is that so many of these crews come into Australian waters only briefly to do specific work and then they leave again. There is no way in the world that the international operators or the shipowners are going to agree to a set of conditions that might apply in a place in which they are working for only very limited periods of time. As we move into what is new work in the world—and that is floating LNG—it is going to have its origins in Western Australian waters. If the Shell Prelude project gets underway, instead of all being on board and an opportunity opening for Australians to develop expertise and to be part of a new and emerging industry, we are going to see the short-sighted actions of a union and the incompetence of a minister cause a circumstance in which we will again not have the opportunity to move into this new and emerging world.

I will conclude with a few comments. Only in the last three weeks did I have members of the AMWU come to see me in my office, in Perth, and plead with me to be part of a case in which we can re-establish a shipbuilding industry in our state and in our country. I said to them: 'It's in your hands. If you want to see shipowners and builders bid for projects then come on board and be part of it.' Madam Acting Deputy President, just let me tell you what the competition is. This time last week, a member of my own family was visiting a major shipyard in China, looking at the possible purchase of a large number of vessels. That Chinese shipyard is building 30 vessels a year. Every 10 days they turn out a new vessel, and he tells me it is of the highest quality

That is what we are bidding against if we want to establish a shipbuilding industry to service the offshore oil and gas industries of our state and our country, and if this government and this union want to establish the biggest possible turn-off from that proceeding and from opening new opportunities for employment and skills development then they just need to keep up what they are doing.