Eric Abetz (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Minister for Employment) Share this | Hansard source

The Australian shipping industry has suffered from a decline in activity over the past 15 years. Labor's 2012 reforms worsened and accelerated the situation in their failed attempt to protect jobs on behalf of their friends in the Maritime Union of Australia. In attempting to protect MUA jobs, the Labor Party is jettisoning hundreds, if not thousands of Australian jobs whose products rely on coastal shipping. The Productivity Commission has now found that the justification for the 2012 reforms was—and they were very polite—'questionable' and that higher shipping costs in Tasmania and the impacts on Australian businesses generally require urgent attention to reinvigorate competitiveness in Australian shipping. Labor's ill-conceived licensing system has killed off hundreds of jobs in Australian industry. (Time expired)