Lisa Singh (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary to the Shadow Attorney General) Share this | Hansard source

I now move Labor amendment (3) on sheet 7647:

(3) Schedule 2, page 4 (lines 1 to 16), to be opposed.

Labor's amendment ensures that the seafarer tax offset is not abolished. Abolition of the seafarer tax offset is the start of the coalition's attempt to remove the supports that Labor put in place to revitalise Australia's shipping.

The object of this offset is to stimulate opportunities for Australian seafarers to be employed or engaged on overseas voyages and to acquire maritime skills. It provides a benefit to employers of Australian seafarers. The offset also is only two years old, yet the government wants to abolish it already. It should be given an opportunity to work, because Australia needs to maintain and expand its maritime skill base. The Australian Shipowners Association, in fact, strongly opposes the abolition of the offset, and so do Shipping Australia, the MUA and the department of infrastructure. No submissions to the legislation inquiry on this bill, in fact, backed the abolition. In fact, apart from the coalition all on its ownsome, I cannot find anyone at all who supports the abolition of the seafarer tax offset. This tax initiative was one of several that arose from the lengthy industry consultations that led to Labor's shipping package. This package commenced in July 2012 and has been operational for just two years, and already this coalition government wants to abolish it.

Australia, as we know, is an island nation. One-tenth of the world's trade goes to and from Australia. Australia has the fourth largest shipping task in the world. It is in Australia's national and security interests to revitalise Australian shipping, not to provide this backward step through the abolition of the offset. Australian shipping is an industry in its own right. It is not simply a cost to other industries. The coalition should stand up for Australian shipping rather than do what it has done continually over the past year and a half, which is walk away from taking practical action to save jobs and defend Australian skills.

We know that the coalition will soon try to walk away from supporting Australian coastal shipping. Opening the coast to an increased number of foreign vessels on Third World wages is bad for safety, is bad for our sensitive maritime environment and deprives us of skills needed to maintain security at our ports and harbours. It makes related activities like shipbuilding and ship maintenance less viable and weakens our long-term naval capacity.

That is why the opposition moves this amendment on sheet 7647.