Richard Colbeck (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Minister for Tourism and International Education) Share this | Hansard source

It is cheaper to bring sugar from Thailand into the Australian market, as Senator Canavan quite rightly said, than it is to bring it in from Queensland, so the Australian sugar industry is locked out of the Australian market. It is locked out of its own market. It is cheaper to bring timber from New Zealand to every eastern port in Australia than it is to bring it from South Australia or Tasmania. The South Australian timber industry and the Tasmanian timber industry are locked out of their own Australian market. It is cheaper to bring cement from China than within the Australian market.

The measures brought in by Labor increased costs, reduced flexibility, made it less competitive for Australian business in the Australian market and it did nothing—as they claimed it might—to save the Australian shipping industry. In fact, the Australian flagged vessels that are leaving the Australian coastline right now are doing so under Labor's provisions. Labor's provisions that were supposed to save the Australian coastal shipping industry are doing nothing to save the Australian coastal shipping industry. Why is it that they are not prepared to stand up for the rest of Australia's industry sectors that want an efficient and cost-effective shipping system? Why is it that they will not stand up for them?

Throughout the debate on this bill there have been some quite mischievous claims with respect to the impact on Australia's marine environment and maritime safety, and they are quite clearly false. Australia's strong environmental safety laws will continue to apply to all ships operating in Australian waters. All ships operating in Australian waters are subject to the Port State Control regime administered by the Australian Maritime Safety Authority, which is world's best practice.

AMSA advise that their port state control statistics indicate that in the 2014 calendar year the deficiency rate for Australian-flagged ships was 3.9 deficiencies per inspection, compared to the deficiency rate of 2.9 deficiencies per inspection for foreign-flagged ships. Looking at the statistics, you can see that Australian and foreign-flagged vessels are basically on a par when it comes to reporting deficiencies. If a vessel does the wrong thing, regardless of its flag, AMSA will detain the ship until it is fixed and if a vessel continues to fail to comply, AMSA can direct a vessel out of Australian waters.

The reason for bringing this legislation forward is so that it can work for the benefit of the Australian shipping industry. My colleague Senator Abetz talked about the impact of a proposed development at Burnie in my home state of Tasmania where DP World are proposing a major container port expansion. The impact of that expansion and the resultant increase in flow of coastal shipping and changes to coastal shipping would reduce the price of a 20-foot container from $2,800 to $1,350—that is, more than halving the cost. It brings it back to more like the cost which occurred before Labor brought in their disastrous coastal shipping reforms—again, that were supposed to save the industry. That saving, by more than halving the cost, is great news for Tasmanian business. It epitomises the fact that this legislation would be a stimulus for investment in my home state.

I will close my remarks by commending the bill to the Senate. I urge members in this place to continue to engage with us and, hopefully, to support the legislation.