Janet Rice (Victoria, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

The Greens will be supporting both sets of Labor amendments. The Greens are committed to safety in our ports and airports, but we believe that extra security measures need to be commensurate and proportionate. In particular, we feel that the measures that are being proposed in this bill are appropriate if they related to 'serious and organised crime', whereas 'serious or organised crime' is setting the bar too low. I note that throughout the minister's second reading speech she referred to 'serious and organised crime'. As Senator Farrell has already pointed out, in all other discussions about this bill the discussion and the debate has been about 'serious and organised crime'. The issue is that, by setting the bar too high, there are going to be many workers who currently are able to work at our ports and airports who maybe denied a MSIC or an ASIC card. Whilst we are committed to safety and want to make sure that the people working in our ports and airports have got the appropriate security checks and are going to be maintaining and non-impacting upon the safety of our airports and ports, we feel that the measures in the bill under a category of 'serious and organised crime' are a level that is appropriate.

This is particularly the case given that we know there is no point on really drilling down and applying incredibly punitive measures upon workers who work in our ports and airports when there are so many other gaping holes in the security of our ports and airports. We have people working in yards just outside of the secure areas who do not have to have these security measures. We have people working up in offices in our cities who are the real people who are planning terrorism attacks, importing drugs or things like that. It is not the people actually working at the ports and the airports. There are no measures addressing those people. In particular, we have got the massive gaps because of foreign seafarers on flags-of-convenience vessels, who in many instances are able to just leave and enter our ports at will without the checks being imposed upon them that are imposed upon Australian workers through the maritime and airport security measures.

For that reason, we feel that we need to get the balance right. Safety and security are very important, but so is the ability to work on our ports and airports by hardworking Australian workers. We feel that the amendments that the Labor Party are proposing are worthy of support for that reason, because they are much closer to getting that balance right and making sure that we are not punitively attacking workers in what may just be a false hope and just providing a veneer of taking action in terms of making our ports more secure.

With the second lot of amendments that the Labor Party have moved, in terms of setting up and making sure that there is a really robust appeals process for people who were denied a MSIC or an ASIC card, we also think that is a very important amendment that is very worthy of support. It is that check and that balance to make sure that we are not just attacking the ability of workers who may have had some history in the past, who may have served their time and who are now being denied the ability to work in our ports and airports. There has to be justice for those workers. If they are denied a MSIC or an ASIC, the appeals process has got to be robust to make sure that they are able to continue to work in our ports and airports.