Glenn Sterle (WA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Labor is not opposing this bill, of course, but when I began this contribution last week I was very critical in my summing-up of the perception of the security levels. One does not argue that we have to make our airports and our ports safe, and as safe as possible in the world we live in today. I was having a fair dinkum crack at the government on some of the nonsense they get up to. This goes back to previous Minister Truss, who is now off enjoying his parliamentary pension wherever he may be, when he introduced the bill to deregister the Australian shipping industry.

The government—ably backed up by their mates the Nats, and no doubt there will be a sprinkling of Independents who will jump in there and give them a hand—have to understand that there are unforeseen consequences. We are not only doing away with Australian jobs, which is just despicable. We are not only opening up the sea lanes for flag-of-convenience vessels. Make no mistake, a lot of the seafarers on those ships, those poor devils, are exploited. So this not a crack against Filipino sailors and seafarers. It is modern-day slavery. It is disgusting. But this government is encouraging it, and it is doing everything it can to see all these Australian jobs go and leave our nation. One of the classic ones was the MV Portland. For crying out loud—they got dragged off their bunks in the middle of the night.

I cannot stress enough to government senators, and government members, how dumb and stupid this idea is, because there is a wealth of experience in our captains, our masters and our engineers—the whole lot. I had the pleasure, which I do regularly, of catching up with my mates from the Australian Maritime Officers Union. If anyone knows their business, it is these guys. They made it very clear to me that I need to share this with the Senate. I was not aware of this, but I am now. I talked about it before we rose last time. When we are at war or whatever it may be in defence of our country—and let us hope we are not—the interface between the merchant navy and the Royal Australian Navy is a cigarette paper's difference. We rely on our merchant navy, our merchant sailors and our merchant seafarers.

Here is a little bit that you lot over there should take a bit of notice of. When there is a warship being built, and we are talking about having a 50-year Navy vessel build here in Australia—and we know all the arguments that have gone on in this chamber, in that other place and in every media outlet, leading into the submarine decision—the Navy cannot take possession of a new warship until it has been commissioned. They cannot operate a warship until it has been commissioned. But new vessels cannot be commissioned until they have undergone sea trials, which identify any issues with the entire vessel's system. So that makes sense. We know that that will not take five minutes and be all over over a cup of tea. This would take whoever knows how long. But, during the sea trials, new vessels are considered commercial vessels and are controlled and operated by civilian merchant seafarers. The RAN will have personnel on board these ships, but it is our merchant sailors, our merchant seamen and our merchant engineers who are the ones who do all the trials.

This blind stupidity coming from that side over there, doing everything they can to appease one or two big companies—because they do not want to pay Australian seafaring wages and conditions—is that they are prepared to tip the whole lot on its ear and proudly wave off Australian jobs. As I said very clearly before, these guys do not get their licences out of a Wheaties packet. They spend years and years learning their trade. Where the hell are our seafarers, our engineers, our skippers, our masters and our captains going to come from? Do you think the Philippines are going to lend us a few? It is absolutely ridiculous.

When we talk about transport security, whether it be ports or airports and all that, it is all very well having the red badge on the ASIC and the MSIC. I get all that. But you have got to be joking: you want to talk up safety and you want to talk up security, yet you are prepared to see all Australian seafaring jobs go. The ships are just about gone, let alone before we start attacking the mob from Broome—those vessels that run up and down the coast that I was talking about when I spoke last week.

So, as much as we are supporting the bill to increase security at our airports, there is absolutely no way—I seem to be going on about this at every opportunity—I am going to let it rest. That mob over there cannot be let off the hook. They want to deregulate Australia's shipping industry and think it is a great idea to have all our vessels sail under flags of convenience, where half the time we do not even know what seafarers are coming in on them. The government can talk a good fight, but that is the truth of the matter. On that, I am finished.