Raff Ciccone (Victoria, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I'm going to speak just briefly on the ANL Legislation Repeal Bill 2019 tonight. It does sound like the Senate will vote in favour of this bill, correcting a longstanding oversight associated with the 1998 sale of ANL by the Commonwealth. As we heard earlier, the sale of ANL, 21 years ago, included the rights to business names, intellectual property, domain names et cetera; however, the continuing existence of the ANL Act and the ANL Guarantee Act poses a statutory bar to the current owners' comprehensive use of those rights. This repeal will remove any restrictions on the use of protected names by the current owners of ANL. The coalition is at least willing to take action to help one shipping line; if only it could say the same for Australia's maritime industry!

As Senator Sterle and others on this side have said, Labor is a strong supporter of Australian shipping. When we came into government in 2007 we took steps to reform the shipping industry, consulted widely with industry and unions and eventually passed the Coastal Trading (Revitalising Australian Shipping) Act 2012. This coastal trading act sought to level the playing field for the Australian shipping industry. It offered, as my colleagues Senators Sterle and McCarthy wrote in 2017 in a Rural and Regional Affairs and Transport Committee report:

… a stable fiscal and regulatory regime, one that would encourage greater investment and promote international competitiveness.

The 2012 reforms that were led by the former Minister for Infrastructure and Transport, now the federal Leader of the Opposition, Anthony Albanese, included measures, like favourable taxation incentives, to encourage the flagging of ships in Australia. It encouraged the employment of Australian seafarers and funded a maritime skills development package.

We took these steps because Labor recognised the importance to our future of a flourishing and vibrant shipping industry. A strong shipping industry is critical to our strategic position, in terms both of economics and of national security. We need a thriving domestic shipping industry. Almost all trade to Australia—99 per cent, in fact—is carried by ship. We have the fourth-largest shipping freight task in the world. As our commodity trade expands, international shipping is becoming busier. Our cruise industry is also growing rapidly. Not only does this explain how critical the industry is; it also shows the extent of the opportunity that shipping presents to our economy.

Sadly, that's an opportunity that, over the last six years, the current coalition government has been determined to squander, to our detriment. In the four years between 2013 and 2017, 12 Australian vessels reflagged to foreign states. Today, there are just 14 Australian flagged vessels operating domestically and internationally, and less than one-half of one per cent of our seaborne trade is carried by Australian flagged ships. The coalition has overseen six years of neglect of our maritime industry. Not only did the coalition vote against the reforms back in 2012; it has twice attempted to pass legislation that would have undermined Australian shipping industry legislation and would have seen the demise of employment opportunities for Australian seafarers.

It's clear to me and other senators on this side of the chamber that the coalition simply does not take seriously the potential for and the regular occurrence of the exploitation of foreign seafarers in Australian waters. The coalition government has tried to push its reforms, which have inflicted enormous damage on the Australian shipping industry, through the parliament twice in the last six years. What Australian seafarers and the shipping industry stakeholders need to know is that, unlike senators on the other side, my ALP colleagues and I support the Australian maritime workers and Australian flagged vessels. That is why Labor is committed to stopping the abuse of temporary shipping licences that this government has allowed to go unchecked and in breach of the existing legislation.

When it comes to licensing foreign ships, we are committed to prioritising the national interests. We're committed to working towards a fleet of Australian flagged vessels that will be not just necessary for the future of a successful Australian shipping industry but essential so it can be called upon in times of strategic importance. Labor is committed to a vibrant shipping industry—a maritime industry that serves the national interest and is profitable and strong. We are committed to ensuring seafarers in our territorial waters are free from exploitation and wage theft. We are committed to a shipping industry that provides good jobs with proper pay and conditions. Labor will never support measures that undercut and undermine the Australian maritime industry, and we'll continue to draw the attention of this place and the attention of the Australian community to this government's continuing neglect of Australian maritime workers and Australian flagged ships.